New storm to bring heavy rain, strong winds, snow to California this week

The "storm train" will keep on rolling into California this week, as another area of low pressure will pummel the state with more flooding downpours, damaging winds and heavy snow this week, according to AccuWeather forecasters.

The storm is the latest in a series of harsh winter storms that have impacted the Golden State over the last several weeks and months. The most recent one turned deadly last week, when it was classified as a 'bomb cyclone' and even spawned tornadoes near Los Angeles. Impacts from this new storm, which will be a hybrid of two storms joining forces over the northeastern Pacific Ocean by Sunday night, will begin in the northwestern part of the state late on Monday, and then advance south through the central and southern areas into Tuesday and Wednesday. The storm will arrive amid chilly conditions in the western and southwestern U.S. and will even spread snow well inland across portions of the Intermountain West.

Perhaps the biggest threat posed by the next storm will be from freshwater flooding. Numerous locations are still reeling from the impacts of the last storm, which caused flash flooding and triggered mudslides, especially in the central coastal portion of the state. It hasn't all been bad news, as severe drought conditions have nearly vanished from most of the state, and most major reservoirs have been filled. The differences compared to last year are even visible from space.

A large portion of the central coastal area, the San Francisco-Bay Area, the Sacramento Valley and the north-central part of the state will measure 1 to 2 inches in their rain gauges by the time the storm winds down later this week. A smaller area in the northwestern part of the state north of the Bay Area, and in the foothills around the Sierra will see higher totals, in the 2- to 4-inch range, leading to the prospects of more significant flooding there. The AccuWeather Local StormMax™ predictions are 8 inches in this area.

The heaviest rain will fall on Tuesday, but lighter rainfall will still advance into Southern California on Tuesday night and Wednesday, and linger as late as Thursday, before the storm finally exits into the Four Corners region. While Los Angeles and San Diego's rainfall should tally less than an inch, the rain will still cause travel issues for the middle of the week.

We recognize the severe impact that current conditions are having on our customers, and we are committed to restoring service levels as quickly as possible. As a result of these weather issues, the ALG Client Service Team will send daily updates as we monitor the progress and track job level impact.