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By Anna Skinner
Associate News Editor
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A significant change in California's weather pattern could result in back-to-back winter storms that deliver nearly an entire month's worth of rain and snow to the Golden State over the next week.
A series of Pacific storms is poised to deliver a dramatic shift in the West’s weather pattern later this week and into next, with forecast models projecting as much as 10 feet of snowfall across high‑elevation terrain from the Sierra Nevada to the central Rockies. The incoming storms mark a sharp turn from the region’s prolonged dry stretch and persistent snow deficits in states such as California, Utah and Colorado, where low snowpack has raised concerns about water supply heading into spring.
Forecasters say the new pattern could significantly boost mountain snowpack and replenish key reservoirs, but it may also bring hazardous travel conditions, periods of heavy precipitation and strong winds as multiple rounds of winter weather sweep inland.
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"It is possible the series of storms next week in California delivers close to an entire month's worth of rain and snow. Multiple inches of rain will pour down in many areas, while feet of snow pile up in the Sierra Nevada," AccuWeather chief on-air meteorologist Bernie Rayno told Newsweek in an email on Thursday morning.
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The heavy snow forecasts come amid a dry winter for much of the West. Earlier this month, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) reported that snowpack statewide was at only 59 percent of average for this time of year.
However, back-to-back storms will dump heavy snow across the region. Although California's snowpack could benefit from the onslaught of winter weather, AccuWeather meteorologists warned that flood, mudslide and transportation risks would also be apparent.
California saw heavy snow earlier in the week, with winter storm warnings saying up to 24 inches was expected to fall across parts of the Sierra Nevada. A brief break will follow that storm.
By Sunday, rain will hit parts of coastal Northern and Central California, AccuWeather forecasts said, before stretching south and east across the state. Then, multiple rounds of rain and snow will batter California through mid-week next week, with "feet of snow" expected in the Sierra Nevada.
As of Thursday afternoon, winter weather advisories were in place for northern Utah and northern New Mexico. NWS meteorologists will likely issue more winter weather warnings in regard to the incoming storms once it gets closer to the actual event.
Some NWS offices have begun issuing hazardous weather outlooks regarding the incoming storms.
"Mountain snow will continue into Friday evening with intermittent impacts on mountain roadways. Daytime temperatures will help with melting, but overnight travel could see snow and ice covered roads," the NWS office in Grand Junction, Colorado, said in a hazardous weather outlook. "A brief lull in active weather Saturday and Sunday will precede a return of unsettled weather as we move into early next week."
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