Potential winter storms expected across the United States on Thanksgiving week could affect holiday travel

Forecasters around the United States have issued severe weather warnings ahead of another wave of winter storms that could potentially affect travel around the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Meanwhile, parts of the Pacific Northwest and California continued to recover from storm damage and widespread power outages as they braced for more impact.

In California, where one person was found dead in a vehicle submerged in floodwaters on Saturday, authorities braced for more rainfall as they battled flooding and small landslides from an earlier storm. Thousands in the Pacific Northwest remained without power after several days of darkness.

The National Weather Service office in Sacramento, Calif., issued a winter storm warning for the state’s Sierra Nevada from Saturday through Tuesday, expecting heavy snow at higher elevations and wind gusts potentially reaching 55 miles per hour. Total snowfall of about 4 feet was forecast, with the heaviest accumulations expected Monday and Tuesday.

“A weak low pressure system will continue to direct a plume of moisture toward the West Coast over the next few days,” the Weather Prediction Center said in an advisory Sunday, which was effective until Tuesday. “This will likely result in coastal and low-lying rain, while moderate to heavy snow spreads across coastal areas of Washington, Oregon and California.”

The heaviest snow was expected to fall across parts of the Sierra Nevada, forecasters said, noting that areas of the Colorado Rockies are also likely to see snow showers over the next few days. Another atmospheric river event was forecast to arrive in parts of central California on Tuesday.

The Midwest and Great Lakes regions will see rain and snow Monday, and the East Coast will be most affected on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, forecasters said.

CBS News meteorologist Nikki Nolan said the holiday outlook was still uncertain late last week, but the weather system could bring rain and snow to the northeastern United States while causing temperatures to drop across most of the country outside the Southeast.

“While models may change in the coming days, Thanksgiving Day shows a low pressure system moving across the east and coming in to the northeast by the evening hours,” Nolan said Friday.

A low pressure system is expected to bring rain to the southeast early Thursday before moving northeast. Areas from Boston to New York could see rain and strong winds, with snowfall possible in parts of northern New Hampshire, northern Maine and the Adirondacks. If the system tracks further inland, there could be less snow and more rain in the mountains, forecasters said.

Earlier this week, at least two people died when severe weather hit the Pacific Northwestbringing strong winds and rain, closing schools and causing widespread power outages. The two who died were killed by falling trees in Lynnwood and Bellevue, both in Washington state, officials said. Hundreds of thousands lost power, mostly in the Seattle area, before strong winds moved through Northern California.

Rescuers in Guerneville, Calif., found a body inside a vehicle bobbing in floodwaters around 10 p.m. 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Rob Dillion said, noting that the deceased was believed to be a victim of the storm, but an autopsy had not yet been performed. completed.

Santa Rosa, Calif., saw its wettest three-day period on record with about 12.5 inches of rain Friday night, the National Weather Service in the Bay Area reported. Vineyards in nearby Windsor, California, were flooded on Saturday.

About 80,000 people in the Seattle area were still without power after this season’s strongest atmospheric rivera long plume of moisture that forms over an ocean and flows over land. The atmospheric river overwhelmed parts of the Pacific Northwest as well as California, and was the strongest weather event of its kind seen all season.

The storm system hit the area on Tuesday. It was considered a “bomb cyclone”, which occurs when a cyclone intensifies rapidly. Although the intensity of the atmospheric river peaked later in the week, forecasters had warned that another round of severe weather was still on the way.

Power came back on in the afternoon at Katie Skipper’s home in North Bend, about 30 miles east of Seattle, after being out since Tuesday. She was tired of taking cold showers, warming herself with a wood stove and using a generator to power the refrigerator, but Skipper said those inconveniences paled in comparison to the injuries other people suffered, such as from fallen trees.

“It’s really sad and scary,” she said.

Another storm brought rain to New York and New Jersey, where rare wildfires have raged in recent weeks, and heavy snow to northeastern Pennsylvania. The rainfall was expected to help ease drought conditions after an unusually dry fall.

“It’s not going to be a drought disturbance, but it will certainly help when all this melts,” said Bryan Greenblatt, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Binghamton, New York.

Heavy snow fell in northeastern Pennsylvania, including the Pocono Mountains. Higher elevations reported up to 17 inches, with smaller accumulations in valley cities including Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. Less than 80,000 customers in 10 counties lost power.

Rainfall in West Virginia helped put a dent in the state’s worst drought in at least two decades and bolstered ski resorts preparing to open their slopes in the coming weeks.