Los Angeles United States.- California awaits Friday the arrival of a storm that has caused highway closures and knocked out power to nearly a million homes and businesses from coast to coast, generating warnings about floods and blizzards.
The National Weather Service warned of a “cold and dangerous winter storm” through Saturday. Up to 1.5 meters of snow is forecast on some mountains near Los Angeles, creating blizzard conditions with winds of up to 120 kilometers per hour and increasing the risk of avalanches, according to forecasters.
The weather service issued rare blizzard warnings for the mountainous areas of southern California and urged drivers to avoid dangerous roads.
Storms have battered the Great Plains states and northern regions of the country for days, and the National Weather Service predicted continued problems with ice, snow and freezing rain through the weekend.
In the northwest, over the Pacific, much of Oregon’s largest city came to a standstill after nearly a foot of snow fell unexpectedly. Snowfall caught drivers in Portland by surprise, halting traffic during Wednesday afternoon’s rush hour and stranding motorists on freeways, some of whom spent the night in their cars.
The snow began to melt later that day, but as temperatures dropped and night fell, the roads became slippery from black ice.
Authorities closed portions of Interstate 80 in California and Wyoming due to impassable conditions. That included a roughly 70-mile stretch at the top of the Sierra Nevada between California and Nevada.
The weather also knocked out power to nearly a million homes and businesses in several states and closed dozens of schools. It also caused traffic jams at airports. At one point on Thursday, more than 2,000 flights were grounded and nearly 14,000 were delayed across the country, according to flight tracking service FlightAware.com.
Widespread power outages were reported in Michigan, Illinois, California, New York and Wisconsin, according to the PowerOutage.us website.
