A powerful winter storm brewing near the Pacific Northwest is forecast to bring damaging gusts, feet of mountain snow and heavy rain to parts of California, Oregon and Washington that could trigger flooding, mudslides and rock slides in the region.
The storm, known as a ” bomb cyclone ,” is dragging an atmospheric river along with it, a plume of moisture-filled air that “will act like a massive firehose of rain at low elevations and a giant snow gun over the high country,” AccuWeather reported. The rapidly intensifying storm is expected to soak the region at least through Friday and into the weekend in some areas, according to The Weather Channel .
NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center issued a rare high risk excessive rainfall outlook for northwest California Thursday due to the serious threat of flooding. The heaviest rainfall will move from Northern California into southwest Oregon, drenching some areas in up to 15 inches of rain, then northward through western Oregon and Washington, according to the Weather Channel. Areas recently affected by wildfires and mountain roads could be vulnerable to mudslides and rockslides, the outlet warned.