© Heavenly Mountain Resort via APIn this photo provided by the Heavenly Mountain Resort, fresh snow covers most of a table and chairs Friday, March 2, 2018, in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. A blizzard warning was in effect for parts of the Sierra Nevada, where snow was piling up and travel was difficult due to repeated highway closures and the need for chains in many places. The snow will help the Sierra snowpack, which is vital to the state's water supply and has only been about a quarter of its normal depth for this time of winter. It's also a boon for skiers and snowboarders.
A massive snowstorm Friday in Northern California could bring the state's lengthy drought to end while leaving two feet of snow in the mountains near Los Angeles.
The Sierra Nevada Mountains has seen two feet of snow and winds gusting over 100 miles per hour. Forecasters are expecting seven feet of snow in some areas of the mountain range. Meanwhile, more than
22,000 Montecito residents evacuated their homes as rain continued to pound the area - California's weather comes as a nor'easter clobbers parts of the East Coast.
"The worst of the storm has passed, and we are cautiously optimistic that due to a significant amount of pre-storm preparation we have come through this with minimal impact," Rob Lewin, director of the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management,
said in a statement.
Things have not been that much better on the East Coast. A so-called
bomb-cyclone condition is shaping up on the other side of the country that could be even more intense than one from earlier this year. Predictions are it could cause record flooding and intense damage and be the most intense nor'easter in 20 years, according to the National Weather Service.
"Many have asked how this event will compare to January 4," the NWS in Boston
said in a statement. "Our thinking is there will likely be more structural damage in this event given the larger waves and occurring over multiple tide cycles. Many neighborhoods will likely become isolated, some for extended periods of time."
Experts are predicting moderate to major flooding for three tide cycles in Boston.
A 3-foot storm surge is coming into the city on top of approximately 11-foot tides, flooding could set records in the city and be worse than the Jan. 4 storm.
January's snowfall covered
approximately 49 percent of the northern section of the country leading up to Christmas Day of 2017. It made a "White Christmas" for almost half of the country, not including Alaska and Hawaii.
Pennsylvania county
was clobbered with 60 inches of snow in two days following Christmas. The storm shattered records and required the national guard to help keep the roads clear and residents safe.
Northern Erie County, Penn., accumulated over 60 inches of snow by late Tuesday afternoon, according to Cleveland's National Weather Service (NWS),
GoErie.com reports. Thirty-four inches of snow descended on Christmas Day, marking a single-day record snowfall in Erie.
Comment: The droughts in California tend to be followed by devastating flooding: