The western part in the United States has been hit repeatedly by a string of atmospheric river –essentially the plumes of concentrated moisture that occur at the altitudes that airplanes frequently fly -- from the beginning of December.

 

This arid weather has brought massive amounts of rain particularly within Central as well as Northern California, which has caused floods, landslides, and numerous power outages.

The forecasters are warning that the sequence of storms could persist into the middle of January.

Here's where forecasters think that the rain will fall in the next five days.

A small amount of rainfall can cause flash flooding since the soil is saturated due to previous rain. The soil is weakened and could lead to landslides.

It's not only rain. In the higher elevationsof the region, snow has fallen at the feet and there's more on the way. The possible effects on travel and daily life due to this winter weather can be seen in the below map.

The dangers of precipitation were accompanied by powerful winds that were widespread and sped up to over 50 miles per hour , at some times.

The extreme weather conditions have resulted in power outages throughout the West. Nearly 141,000 customers of utility companies were without power in California at the time of writing on Thursday afternoon as per poweroutage.us.
http://www.dream11today.com/california-storm-maps-tracking-rain-and-extreme-winter-weather/