California storms to abate as drought relief continues

Storms packing heavy rain and heavy mountain snow will take a break beginning during the middle of this week, while further drought relief looks promising for California.

The storms raised considerable problems for the state including flooding, debris flows, snowy mountain roads and heavy seas.

Deadly storms unleash damage, flooding in California

This past weekend, the San Lorenzo River flooded for the second time in two weeks in Santa Cruz County, California.

Between 2 and 4 inches of rain fell on coastal Southern California during Sunday alone, which had first responders busy setting up roadblocks, performing swift water rescues, clearing debris and repairing power lines.

Daily rainfall records were set at Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, on Sunday.

Evacuations occurred in parts of Los Angeles, Orange and Santa Barbara counties for fears of mudslides and flash flooding in recent wildfire burn areas, according to ABC News. Several people had to be rescued during flash flooding at El Capitan Canyon campground in California late last week.

As of late Monday night, Governor Jerry Brown declared states of emergency in 50 counties, including Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Diego.

One person was killed in Ukiah, California, when a tree crashed through an apartment building on Saturday, Jan. 21, according to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

Another person died from injuries after being swept away by a large wave at Ocean Beach, California, on Saturday, according to the Times of San Diego. Her companion later died from her injuries.

Several other people remain missing in the wake of the storms. Two people went missing off Pebble Beach over the weekend, but the search has since been called off.

In another incident over the weekend, the body of a man was found near a submerged vehicle along Rainbow Creek in San Diego County, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. As of Wednesday morning, crews continued to search nearby for the body of a 5-year-old boy who was seen swept away in the raging water.

As storms abate, travel conditions to improve over California

The caboose in the recent train of major storms will move inland during the middle days of this week.

Travel conditions will substantially improve and surf will ease as a result.

"The only trouble in the near future will be due to the amount of unstable snow on the slopes and shifting winds, which will raise the risk of avalanches," according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Evan Duffey.

"Late in the week, gusty northeasterly winds will occur in some areas as a chilly Santa Ana develops," Duffey said.

Dry weather will settle over much of the western United States during the middle and latter part of this week and will linger into early next week.

During this period, storms will be forced much farther north into British Columbia and Alaska.

"Beyond the middle of this week, colder air will spread out over much of the nation," Duffey said. "The pattern later this week into next week will favor persistent valley and basin fog over the interior West."

Storms from the Pacific Ocean will return in February but will be directed more into the Northwest states, rather than central and Southern California.

"We don't see February being nearly as wet as January for California as a whole, but there will be some storms with rain and mountain snow, especially in the northern part of the state," Duffey said.

More short-term and long-term drought relief on the way

This winter, multiple trains of storms have delivered rainfall from two to four times that of average in California.

More than 25 feet of snow has fallen over the high country of the Sierra Nevada since the middle of November. In some areas, there is more than 15 feet of dense snow on the ground.

Drought status will continue to improve over Southern California through next week, even as the storm machine switches to a gentler, more northern mode.

There are no longer any areas in drought over northern California, and conditions in the southern part of the state continue to improve according to the United States Drought Monitor.

"There can still be a handful of storms that bring some rain to Southern California for the remainder of the winter, but they will likely not be as potent as what has already occurred," Duffey said.

Water supplies will be replenished during spring and summer. The current snowpack in the Sierra Nevada translates to about 30 inches of water that will be slowly released into streams, reservoirs and aqueducts in the warmer months.

"There should not be as much competition for water in the southern versus northern part of California this summer, even as the storm pattern diminishes," Duffey said.

Report a Typo