California residents are bracing for what’s forecast to be a massive winter storm and one of the most powerful to hit the Bay Area in a decade.
The Los Angeles Times noted that the National Weather Service has said that the strong storm is expected to bring several inches of rain to both Northern and Southern California.
The storm is expected to be worse than the one that drenched Southern California and caused flooding and mudslides a week ago.
AccuWeather predicted that 3 to 6 inches of rain could fall in San Francisco and Sacramento, but some areas could get 9 inches.
“Bottom line … now is the time to prepare before the storm on Thursday,” forecasters for the National Weather Service’s Bay Area region said in a statement. "Preparations should be made ASAP.”
Residents living above 6,000 feet in Lassen National Park and Donner Pass could see blizzard conditions and folks in the Sierra crest could get as much as 3 feet of snow.
USA Today reported that the "Pineapple Express," as it is referred to, will bring plenty of moisture directly from Hawaii to the West Coast starting on Wednesday.
Oregon and Washington State will also feel the effects of the storm and, like California, may have some power outages from the high winds.
images via Twitter by the NWS Bay Area