Another Powerful Storm To Strike California Next Week; More Rain, Snow Expected

Residents of Southern California have been warned about yet another storm that could bring heavy rain, mountain snow and potentially damaging wind gusts over the next couple of days.

California, which has already been battered by at least 11 atmospheric rivers this season, will see the next one from late Monday through Wednesday.

"The system will bring heavy rain and a flood threat, heavy snow with dangerous travel and high winds gusting over hurricane force" in some places, CNN Meteorologist Dave Hennen said.

A flood watch has been issued for areas from Mexico border to San Luis Obispo County and the southern half of California's Central Valley, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. Mountains in Riverside and San Bernardino counties are under winter storm warnings.

"Snow levels will be particularly low, starting at 6,000 feet but dropping to 3,500 to 4,000 feet by Wednesday morning," KTLA weather anchor Kacey Montoya said.

The NWS warned the storm, described as the "most impactful weather system to affect the US through midweek," will move across California and the southwest Tuesday.

"A rapidly strengthening low-pressure system to deepen off the West Coast will swing toward the central California coast and produce potentially damaging wind gusts, heavy rain, and heavy mountain snow," the agency said in a statement. "The strong pressure gradient associated with the anomalously low pressure could lead to maximum wind gusts near 75 mph across Southern California, with gusts up to 50 mph across central California."

Residents have been asked to be prepared to avoid damage from falling of trees. "We're going to see widespread, potentially damaging gusts pretty much the entire day Tuesday," Montoya added.

The storm also poses a moderate risk of flooding as the flood threat for parts of Southern California was raised from level 3 to 4. Over 15 million people from coastal areas of Los Angeles to San Diego are at risk.

Many parts of California were already flooded after an atmospheric river hit the state last week.

"Everything is changing rapidly, and the water is still coming. This is far from being done," Brandon Mendonsa, a farmer in Tulare County, told KFSN over the weekend.

Mendonsa said the "devastation is indescribable," noting that thousands of cattle have been evacuated from dairies.

Although the recent storms in California have damaged homes and livelihoods of many, the massive amount of rain dumped on the state has helped mitigate the drought situation to some extent.

California was facing a historic drought before it was struck by relentless rain. Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Santa Maria saw record amounts of rainfall from the atmospheric rain last week.

About 80.6% of California was facing some level of drought just three months ago. It now covers only 8% of the state.

The Metropolitan Water District announced last week that nearly seven million people in Southern California were no longer under mandate emergency restrictions on water use because the winter storms alleviated the state's water shortage.