California braces for further extreme weather and storms: Live updates

The National Weather Service (NWS) has warned of the possibility of tornadoes along the Central Coast on Sunday ahead of further atmospheric storm systems.

“The environment is marginal for a weak and brief tornado or two along the Central Coast, mainly coastal sections of San Luis Obispo County late this afternoon to evening hours. That is when marginal instability overlaps with modest low level veering (turning),” an updated NWS forecast said on Sunday afternoon.

“Other hazards include brief heavy downpours, gusty winds to 40 mph, and potentially lightning. As mentioned in earlier discussions, this type of low top convection may produce little to no lightning, but still present many of the hazards listed.”

Forecasters from the National Weather Service (NWS) expect Saturday’s system to be lighter but to act as a “primer” for the next storm.

Any rain that falls will make it harder for the ground to absorb rain during the next one, increasing the risk of flooding, they said.

Read the National Weather Services (NWS) Sunday morning update below:

On Sunday morning, light showers will continue across the San Louis Obispo and Santa Barbara coastal ranges, continuing through the afternoon as moist South West flow continues over the area.

Despite being one day away, models are still disagreeing on the timing of when the first front moves through and when the bigger system starts to move in.

These discrepancies are leading to a chance of showers being kept in the forecast across the Central Coast and eastern Ventura through the day Sunday.

High temps on Sunday will warm a few degrees compared to today’s across San Louis Obispo due to the front having passed, but elsewhere, temps will cool around 5 degrees due to the cold air still hanging around Ventura/L.A. County.

The worst of the wet weather is expected to arrive in the area between Sunday and Wednesday.

Forecasters warned that there was a slight risk of excessive rainfall that could lead to flash flooding on Saturday from Humboldt to Sonoma counties, the heart of California wine country.

A rate of 1-2 inches of rainfall per hour was possible, the National Weather said in its latest briefing.

The region was struck by torrential downpours during an atmospheric river-driven event which led to flooding earlier this month.

And in January, about 13,000 residents of a flood-prone area of Sonoma County were evacuated after the swollen Russian River threatened to burst its banks.

During torrential downpours earlier this month, firefighters responded to a heavy debris flow in the Beverly Crest area of Los Angeles, evacuating seven homes.

Residents told Mike Bedigan they had “not even remotely had anything like this before”.

Read the full report here:

California’s Department of Transportation issued an alert on Friday that State Route 33 in Los Padres Forest, north of Los Angeles, would be fully closed as back-to-back storms blew into the state.

SR-33 was subject to full closures between Saturday and Wednesday, Caltrans said.

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“SR-33 has 1-way alternating traffic control at 5 locations between Maitlija Hot Springs Rd. & Lockwood Valley Rd. to repair storm damage from last winter,” the agency posted on X, formerly Twitter, with video of a bulldozer clearing rocks from a landslide off the two-lane route.

More heavy snow is on the way for the Sierra Nevada, Shasta and Trinity mountains on Saturday night as the atmospheric river system moves inland, the National Weather Service said.

A total of 1-2 feet of snow are possible over the Sierra this weekend while 1-3 feet is likely over the Trinity and Shasta Mountains.

A winter weather advisory is in place for the region around Lake Tahoe in northern California.