In pics: California braces for another round of winter storm

Around the state capital on Monday Thunderstorms can bring “brief tornadoes, large amounts of small hail, heavy rain, lightning, and gusty winds,” the weather service office in Sacramento warned on X, formerly Twitter.

The latest storm is expected to move through quicker than the devastating atmospheric river that parked itself over Southern California earlier this month, turning roads into rivers, causing hundreds of landslides and killing at least nine people.

'Consider completing Sierra travel during the day Sunday, or rescheduling to later next week,' said the weather service office in Reno, Nevada. The office issued a backcountry avalanche watch for the greater Lake Tahoe area and the eastern Sierra in Inyo and Mono counties.

'It’s not the ideal setup for an atmospheric river, but it does have some of the characteristics,' including a band of subtropical moisture bringing up the rear of the storm, Murdock said. 'Otherwise it’s just a cold front.'

Rainfall will be widespread even in the mountains, but several feet of snow is possible at elevations above about 6,800 feet (2,070 meters) across the Sierra Nevada, the weather service said. Motorists are urged to avoid mountain routes.

The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services activated its operations center Saturday and positioned personnel and equipment in areas most at risk.

Several firehouses in the city put out mounds of dirt for residents to fill their sandbags to help prepare for the storm. On Sunday, Pablo Rosales, a construction worker, was working fast to fill up his bags at a station in the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw neighborhood.

National Weather Service Sacramento via their official X account shared that, "Severe T-Storms will be possible on Monday afternoon/evening (30-50% chance of T-Storms) in the Valley. Make sure you have multiple ways of receiving weather alerts.' The impacts may include brief tornadoes, large amounts of small hail, heavy rain, lightning, & gusty winds."

California's Office of Emergency Services said Saturday that it had deployed emergency workers, including two swift water rescue teams, in six counties ahead of the storm.

​

"We are rushing because it's going to be raining soon," said Rosales, 53. He added that neighbors on nearby hillsides, where several streets flooded during the last storm, hired him and several of his workers to help with sandbagging and shoring up hillsides.

California’s central coast is at risk of “significant flooding,” with up to 5 inches (12 cm) of rain predicted for many areas, according to the weather service. Isolated rain totals of 10 inches (25 cm) are possible in the Santa Lucia and Santa Ynez mountain ranges as the storm heads toward greater Los Angeles.