San Diego, California – Southern California is bracing for what meteorologists are calling a “significant” atmospheric river event — the kind of storm that can rewrite a city’s relationship with water in a matter of hours. Forecasters say the region could see an entire month’s worth of rain between Thursday and Saturday, triggering fears of flash floods, mudslides, and power outages across the state.
The National Weather Service warned Wednesday that the incoming system could bring between 1 and 2 inches of rain across much of the state, with certain mountain areas seeing more than 3 inches. In Los Angeles, roughly 1.3 inches are expected — nearly the city’s entire November average, packed into three days.
“It’s anomalous, but not unheard of,” said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the NWS Weather Prediction Center. “Especially across an area that has a large standard deviation year to year with respect to precipitation. The average doesn’t necessarily reflect what they typically get.”…