With the erratic movement of high level air masses over the west coast the drought conditions suffered by states from California to Oregon could see those those problems go away.
But those concerns are now being replaced by perilous conditions brought on by epic storms that could cause flooding as bad as in 1997 or even worse.
Here’s more from Accuweather:
A large storm will affect the west coast of the United States with drenching rain, ice, flooding and high country snow this weekend into next week.
“There is the potential for excessive rain, combined with melting snow to trigger the worst flooding in northern California since 1997 and perhaps 1986,” according to Senior Vice President of AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions Mike Smith.
The next storm will roll ashore early this weekend, and it will not be in a hurry to leave.
Storm to unleash flooding, mudslides
Unlike the storm along the West Coast at midweek, which concentrated over northern California and southern Oregon, the impacts from the storm this weekend will be significant, far-reaching and long-lasting.
At the very least, the storm this weekend will cause disruptions to travel due to wet conditions on the highways and low cloud ceilings and gusty winds at area airports over much of the Interstate 5 corridor.
Initially, rain, ice and mountain snow will affect areas from northern California to Oregon. However, rounds of rain and mountain snow will spread northward through Washington and inland over Nevada, Idaho and Utah as the weekend progresses.
Cities that can expect multiple days of wet weather from the storm include San Francisco, Sacramento and Fresno, California.
Enough rain will fall to cause urban flooding, as well as raise the risk of mudslides. The risk of mudslides will not be limited to recent wildfire areas.
A heavy amount of rain will fall and a tremendous amount of water will be released into area streams and rivers.
