Tens of thousands are without power as a weekend storm slams the Pacific Northwest, dumping four-to-seven feet of snow on the Sierra region and leading to road closures in Northern California.
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for greater Lake Tahoe through 1 a.m. Tuesday and warned of “widespread whiteout conditions” and strong wind gusts.
CBS News weather producer David Parkinson says the Sierra region can expect another two-to-four feet Monday, and there’s a foot coming Monday into Tuesday in the Wasatch Mountains in Utah. He says gusts in Lake Tahoe could top 100 mph on mountain ridge tops.
As of Monday morning, there were more than 56,000 homes and businesses without power in California, 11,000 without power in Oregon and more than 6,000 in Washington, according to PowerOutage.US.
In addition, Parkinson says there will be “uncharacteristic, even record cold” in the West: Monday’s high in Seattle should be just 24 degrees — the coldest high ever there for this date, breaking the old record by 10 degrees. The cold will be felt as far south as Riverside, California, where the high won’t hit 50 degrees, which would be another record.
There’s a massive cold air outbreak in Canada making its way down to the American West, Parkinson explains, meaning the region will be dealing with the cold through at least Wednesday.
The National Weather Service reported 3.8 inches of snow fell in Seattle Sunday, where the wind chill caused temperatures that felt like they were near zero degrees. CBS NEWS
