12:30 PM | The pounding continues out West
Paul Dorian
Discussion
The pounding continues today along the West Coast from San Francisco to Seattle as the atmospheric fire hose continues, and the numbers over the past week are quite remarkable. A series of powerhouse storms and frontal systems since late November have left behind flooded rivers and downed trees with scattered power outages in this part of the country. The hardest hit region has been across northern California where the rain totals have risen to nearly two feet since the onslaught began (23.48 inches at Brandy Creek, CA; 21.24 at Sterling City, CA; 17.50 inches at Petrolia, CA; 15.16 inches at Oak Mountain, CA; 12.55 inches at Secret Town, CA). Heavy rain has also piled up in Oregon and Washington with 12.35 inches reported so far in O’Brien, OR and 9.03 inches at Wynoochee Lake, WA. Even in places farther south there have been generous rainfall amounts during this period with 4-8 inches in the central Sacramento Valley and 2-4 inches in the San Joaquin Valley. San Francisco Intl Airport has recorded more than 4 inches of rain since November 27th and more is falling there today.
Winds and snow have also been on the extreme side in some locations during this stormy week. There have been wind gusts of up to 150 mph recorded at Mammoth Mountain, CA, 113 mph at central Wasatch Peaks, UT, 95 mph near Reno, NV, 74 mph in Newport, OR, and 50 mph at San Francisco Intl Airport. General snowfall amounts of around 2 feet have accumulated in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, a foot and a half at West Yellowstone, MT, and the highest total measured so far is 45.0 inches at Mt. Rose, CA.