US

Heavy rain and snow to hit western United States

Bitterly cold temperatures brought by winter storm set to ease in central and eastern regions

Utility workers walk through falling snow as they inspect power lines in Buffalo, New York, on December 27th, 2022. Photograph: JOED VIERA/AFP via Getty Images
Utility workers walk through falling snow as they inspect power lines in Buffalo, New York, on December 27th, 2022. Photograph: JOED VIERA/AFP via Getty Images
Livia Albeck-Ripka
Wed Dec 28 2022 - 08:30

The United States is bracing for another extreme weather event as an “atmospheric river” is likely to bring days of heavy rain and snow to the west of the country following a punishing winter storm in eastern regions.

The storm has resulted in at least 60 deaths in the United States.

The majority of the central and eastern United States will finally experience a reprieve from the bitterly cold holiday weekend temperatures, according to the weather service.

“After a bone-chilling Christmas weekend,” the service said, “the final days of 2022 are forecast to be much more comfortable.”

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However, a “deep and fast-moving” storm system – a channel of wind in the atmosphere that transports water vapour from the tropics – had already begun pummeling parts of northwest California and Oregon on Tuesday.

The system is expected to continue through much of the week, delivering excessive rainfall that could cause flash flooding, mudslides and debris flows, forecasters said.

At times, the rate of rainfall could be up to an inch per hour, said William Churchill, a forecaster and meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

As of Tuesday evening, about two to six inches of rain had fallen in the hardest hit areas, and the storm system was expected to sweep through the region between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, as well as the central plains.

The system was forecast to deliver rain across the west coast as well as parts of central and southern California through early Wednesday, forecasters said, adding that a few scattered flash floods were possible. This article first appeared in The New York Times.