At a Glance
- A second storm will bring more rain and mountain snow to California.
- California's Sierra could pick up additional feet of snow through Monday.
- Rain is also expected in lower elevations of California, but it won't produce widespread flooding.
- Before that, snow and winds will lead to tricky travel in the Rockies and Northern Plains Friday.
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Another storm will dump feet of heavy snow in California's Sierra Nevada through the weekend while a separate storm blasts the Midwest with strong winds.
The first storm, named Winter Storm Carli by The Weather Channel, had significant impacts from the Northwest into California and the Rockies. Read more on those impacts below the forecast.
Forecast Timing
Here's a daily look at what to expect:
Sunday and Monday
Rain showers and mountain snow will continue from Washington to much of California on Sunday, with snow extending into the Great Basin and northern Rockies.
Some rain showers are likely in Arizona and New Mexico.
Precipitation will wane somewhat on Monday, but rain and snow showers will remain possible in the Four Corners into at least Tuesday.
How Much More Snow, Rain?
The heaviest additional snow totals through Monday will be in California's Sierra, where multiple feet of additional snow are possible.
This could make travel treacherous, if not impossible at times, Saturday into Sunday.
Additional snow totals of 3-6 inches are expected in the higher elevations of the Rockies from Idaho to Utah's Wasatch and Colorado's high country.
Similar to the first storm, rainfall in lower elevations of California is generally expected to be around an inch or so, at most, through this weekend. While there may be some nuisance flash flooding in urban, flood-prone areas and some landslides or debris flows from recently-burned areas, widespread flash flooding is not expected. Some higher rainfall totals are possible in the foothills of the Sierra.
Winter Storm Carli Recap
Up to 26 inches of snow blanketed the Washington Cascades. Seattle picked up its first accumulating snow of the season, with amounts ranging from an inch near downtown and SeaTac Airport to 6 inches in the King County foothills and Snohomish County.
This combination of wet snow and strong winds knocked out power to over 60,000 in the metro Tuesday into Wednesday.
Carli then hammered California's Sierra with heavy snow Thursday and Thursday night, prompting closures of heavily-traveled Interstate 80 over Donner Summit. Wind gusts up to 99 mph were clocked in Mono County, California, and an 89 mph gust was measured atop Heavenly Ski Summit Thursday.
That system is producing snow and high winds over the Rockies. A gust to 105 mph was clocked atop Cheyenne Mountain, south of Colorado Springs, late Thursday night. These high winds blew concrete shingles off a home on the south side of Colorado Springs, according to the National Weather Service.
A dust storm was kicked up amid 60+ mph wind gusts in portions of Kansas and Colorado, Friday afternoon.
Carli brought gusty winds and periods of rain to the Great Lakes and Northeast on Saturday, Dec. 3. Power outages spiked over 80,000 households and tree damage was reported from Michigan to New York.
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