California Today: Two big storms are coming

The atmospheric rivers could lead to flooding, mudslides and road closures over the next week.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story January 31, 2024 By Soumya Karlamangla California Today, Writer It's Wednesday. Two big storms are coming to California. Plus, Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to speed up projects that help sustain salmon populations. The flooded backyard of a house in San Diego last week. Ariana Drehsler for The New York Times No matter where you are in California, big storms are headed your way over the next several days. Forecasters are warning of back-to-back atmospheric rivers that could lead to flooding, mudslides and road closures between today and Tuesday. "We could very well receive February's total normal precipitation within the month's first five days," forecasters from the National Weather Service's office in San Diego wrote early Monday morning. California needs the rain to stave off drought. The state has gotten only about 81 percent of the total average rainfall expected by this time of year, and the snowpack is just 32 percent of average, according to state data. Water levels at reservoirs are still above average for this time of year because of the bounty of rain we received last winter, but they are not nearly as high as they were a year ago. The first storm reached the California coast last night, and it is expected to bring widespread rainfall and gusty winds to Northern California today before tapering off a bit and moving into Southern California tomorrow. It will pack a greater punch in the north than in the south, forecasters told me. Parts of Marin, Sonoma and Napa Counties are expected to get two to four inches of rain, and the Santa Cruz and Santa Lucia Mountains may get six inches, according to Nicole Sarment, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Bay Area office. The North Coast is expected to get up to five inches of rain today and tomorrow. Flooding is expected in low-lying areas because the soil is already saturated from earlier storms, experts say. Heavy winds may knock down trees and power lines. Between late Wednesday and Thursday, the Sierra Nevada mountains are expected to get one to three feet of snow, which could force the closures of Interstate 80 and Highway 50. "Mountain travel for that time frame is highly discouraged," said Katrina Hand, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Sacramento office. The storm is predicted to be a moderate atmospheric river, and not anywhere near as severe as the series of storms last winter that led to widespread flooding and historic amounts of snow in the region, according to my colleague Judson Jones, a meteorologist and reporter for The New York Times. The first of the two storms this week isn't expected to do much damage in Southern California, said Mike Woffard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Oxnard. Rain will arrive in Los Angeles on Thursday morning, but forecasters aren't "expecting really anything more than just typical rainy-day kind of stuff," he told me. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT But the second storm could be more intense. Forecasters with the Weather Prediction Center said it was "increasingly likely" that a strong weather system, possibly a "significant atmospheric river event," would affect California late this weekend and early next week. That storm, Woffard said, will probably yield four to eight inches of rain in the Santa Monica Mountains and San Gabriel Mountains, and is likely to cause flooding, mudslides and rockslides. When it comes to storms this rainy season, "for the L.A. area, this will likely be the strongest one so far," Woffard told me. For more: Track the atmospheric rivers hitting California. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. Salmon captured for research were held Monday in a container at Prairie Creek in Redwoods National Park. Terry Chea/Associated Press The rest of the news Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to speed up projects that are meant to help sustain salmon populations by removing or bypassing dams, but some environmentalists say he's not doing enough, The Associated Press reports. A bill pending in the Legislature would allow county-designated psychiatrists, psychologists and clinical social workers to confine mentally ill people against their will for up to 72 hours, CalMatters reports. Southern California The talent agency WME has enlisted the technology firm Vermillio to help celebrity clients get fake images of themselves removed, or obtain compensation for use of their likenesses. Representative Katie Porter, Democrat of Orange County, narrowly won re-election in 2022. Now that she is running for the Senate, two Democrats are campaigning to keep her seat blue, while a former assemblyman, Scott Baugh, hopes to flip it to the Republican column, The Los Angeles Times reports. The Los Angeles police arrested a man in connection with an organized retail theft ring after officials found $5 million worth of stolen Nike merchandise in a warehouse in Hawthorne, NBC News reports. Northern California Google's parent company, Alphabet, reported that its search revenue and profit margin for the fourth quarter fell short of Wall Street's expectations. Clorox has hired uniformed security guards to escort employees between its headquarters in Oakland and nearby BART stations, parking garages and businesses, The San Francisco Chronicle reports. WHAT WE'RE EATING Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Mochi By Naz Deravian 5 hours 15 minutes Makes 8 mochi Tell us If you live in the Bay Area, chances are you cross a lot of bridges. Which one is your favorite, and why? Tell us at CAtoday@nytimes.com. Please include your name and the city in which you live. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT A dish from Rintaro in San Francisco. Aya Brackett And before you go, some good news Dozens of chefs in California are among the semifinalists for this year's James Beard Awards. Among the contenders in the "Best Chef in California" category are Geoff Davis of Burdell, a modern soul food restaurant in Oakland; Jihee Kim of Perilla, a Korean banchan shop in Los Angeles; and Sayat Ozyilmaz of Dalida, an adventurous Mediterranean restaurant in San Francisco. Sylvan Mishima Brackett, the chef at Rintaro in San Francisco, and Rashida Holmes, the chef at Bridgetown Roti in Los Angeles, were named semifinalists in the "Outstanding Chef" category, and other buzzy Golden State restaurants and bakeries, including Kiln, Fat + Flour and Lazy Bear also made the list. Finalists will be announced in the next few weeks, and a ceremony will be held in Chicago in June. See the full list of restaurants here. Thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow. — Soumya P.S. Here's today's Mini Crossword. Maia Coleman, Briana Scalia and Halina Bennet contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for California Today from The New York Times. To stop receiving California Today, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. 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