SAN DIEGO − The tail end of a powerful atmospheric river storm that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of California homes and businesses was deluging the state Monday with more heavy rain, mudslides, flooding and several feet of snow in the mountains.
In Southern California, the heavy winds that blasted the region Sunday were diminishing, but the National Weather Service warned that an unstable weather pattern could generate waterspouts or small tornadoes.
Flash flooding “is a much greater threat than any weak tornado that the storm may spawn,” the weather service said, and dangerous flooding was likely across much of the region from the atmospheric river − the equivalent of a river in the sky that is responsible for extreme rain and snow in the West.
Additional rainfall totals of 5-8 inches were forecast in some areas, which would bring 48-hour totals as high as 14 inches for some locations, the weather service said. A state of emergency was declared in eight Southern California counties.