Storm Diego blasts California, will roar across southern US with snow, ice, rain, floods

Smoke from a California wildfire [image credit: BBC]

From huge wildfires to cold stormy weather in a matter of a few weeks in California.

A powerful storm will crawl across the southern tier of the U.S. over the next several days, delivering snow, ice, rain, floods and even a few tornadoes, says USA Today.

A powerful storm that slammed southern California Thursday will crawl across the southern tier of the United States over the next several days, delivering a nasty mix of snow, ice, heavy rain, floods and even a few tornadoes.

Ahead of the storm, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency for all 77 counties in her state.

As of midday Thursday, about 20 million people were under some level of weather alert. Many tens of millions more should be added to this total over the next few days.

Rain and snow pelted southern California throughout the day Friday, leading to floods, mudslides and nightmarish traffic. The rain also caused a plane to skid off a wet runway at Hollywood Burbank Airport.

Snow was confined to the higher elevations, forcing the closure of I-5, a major north-south route.

On Friday, the storm is forecast to ramp up in intensity as it moves across the southern U.S.: “Accumulating snow and ice appears likely from eastern New Mexico to western Oklahoma on Friday with snow totals of 4 to 8 inches, with locally higher amounts possible especially across the Texas Panhandle,” weather service forecaster Allison Santorelli said.

“A swath of potentially significant ice is also forecast from roughly Lubbock, Texas, to near Oklahoma City, with accumulations in excess of 0.10 to 0.25 inches possible,” she added.

The Weather Channel warned that the ice accumulations could cause extensive power outages and tree damage.

Continued here.