Forecasters warned of more high winds headed to the battered Pacific Northwest, while an atmospheric river continued to dump heavy rain on California.
More than 200,000 homes and businesses in Washington state, which was hit this week by winds of up to around 70 mph as part of a “bomb cyclone” off the coast, remained without electricity Thursday night, according to tracking website poweroutage.us.
Two people were killed by falling trees in the state in that storm, which began Tuesday, officials said.
And more high winds are on the way for the Pacific Northwest, in the forecast range of between 45 and 65 mph starting Friday due to a low-pressure system offshore, the National Weather Service said.
“Power outages are possible and unsecured items may get blown over,” the agency warned.
In California, an “atmospheric river” dumped more rain on the northern part of the state. The biggest risk of life-threatening floods was forecast for Thursday, but flooding will remain a threat through Friday, the weather service said.
Santa Rosa, a city of around 170,000 in California’s Sonoma County north of San Francisco, got more than 10 inches of rain over 48 hours by Thursday evening, the city said. Roads and parking lots flooded, and the police department asked everyone to avoid unnecessary travel.
In the Sierra Nevada, the storm was bringing snow. The California Highway Patrol in Truckee said a semi slide off the highway Thursday, and earlier in the week portions of important thoroughfare Interstate 5 near the Oregon border were closed. They have since re-opened.
Landslides and rockslides shut down some or all traffic lanes on highways in Humboldt and Lake counties, the weather service in Eureka,California, said.
Including parts of California, there were around 14 million people under winter storm warnings or winter weather advisories Thursday night, although only around 2.5 million were under a warning, according to the meteorological agency’s website.
In New York state and Pennsylvania, snow is on the way, courtesy of “a potent upper-level low swing over the region,” the weather service said.
New York City wasn’t under any advisories, but northeastern New Jersey and the lower Hudson Valley were, and some areas could get up to 4 inches of snow or a snow and rain mix, forecasters for that region said.
The Johnstown, Pennsylvania, area could see up to a foot of snow accumulation and was under a winter weather warning until 7 on Saturday, although the highest amounts are expected for ridge tops, the weather service said.
The upstate New York regions of Binghamton and Ithaca could see around 1 to 4 inches of snow in the valleys, and up to a foot at higher elevations above 1,500 feet. The area was under a winter weather warning until 4 pm Friday.