Two storms could bring the equivalent of a month of rain and heavy snowfall in the Sierra Nevada for California, starting from February 15. The risk of floods and landslides is increasing, and traffic disruptions could spread for days.
The first storm is expected to make landfall on February 16 (December 29th of the lunar calendar, Vietnam time), and another storm may arrive in the middle of next week (December 3rd of the lunar calendar, Vietnam time), increasing the risk of traffic disruption.
Rain began to spread throughout the state, starting from northwest California from February 15-16. In Siskiyou and Sierra Nevada, heavy snowfall.
The largest and longest rainfall in San Francisco will occur from the evening of February 15 and the morning of February 16, enough to cause flooding in poorly drainaged areas and minor landslides. San Francisco usually only receives less than 100mm of rainfall throughout February.
Traffic conditions on February 16th in Los Angeles could be very difficult, especially during lunchtime and afternoon" - senior weather forecaster Heather Zehr of AccuWeather said.
Along Interstate 80 through the Sierra Nevada, the average snowfall is 60-120cm.
This storm will divert to the mainland after moving south through California.
The second storm is forecast to make landfall along the California coast around midweek. Because the amount of humidity will be limited in this second storm, it is not predicted that there will be heavy rain and snow on the mountains over a wide area. However, it seems this will be a colder storm with lower snowfall, possibly down to medium altitude.
Some rain and snow in the mountains may spread further across the West Coast in the middle and end of the week (after Tet Vietnam time).
In Vietnam, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, on the day and night of February 15 (December 28th of the lunar calendar), the southern East Sea area (including the Truong Sa special zone) will have scattered showers and thunderstorms. In thunderstorms, there is a possibility of tornadoes, strong gusts of wind at level 6-7 and waves over 2.0m high.
On February 15, the sea area from Khanh Hoa to Ho Chi Minh City and the sea area west of the southern East Sea (including the sea area west of Truong Sa special zone) will have strong northeast winds of level 5, sometimes level 6, gusts of level 7; rough seas; sea waves 2.0-4.0m high. From the night of February 15, winds in the above sea areas tend to gradually decrease.
Regarding the cold air forecast, around the morning of February 17 (the 1st day of Tet), cold air will affect the mountainous areas of the Northeast region; from the evening and night of February 17 it will be strengthened more strongly, affecting other places in the North (except Lai Chau, Dien Bien), North Central region and some places in Central Central region.
From the night of February 16 (December 29th of the lunar calendar) to February 19 (the 3rd day of Tet), the North and North Central regions will have rain, scattered light rain.
From the night of February 17-19 (the 1st to the 3rd day of Tet), the North and Thanh Hoa will be cold, with deep cold in some mountainous areas. The lowest temperature is commonly 16-19 degrees Celsius, in some mountainous areas below 15 degrees Celsius.
Hanoi weather forecast: From the night of February 16-19 (December 29th to the 3rd day of Tet) there will be scattered light rain; from the night of February 17-19 it will be cold; the lowest temperature is 17-19 degrees C.
