Second California Storm Brings Another Flood Threat After Weekend Atmospheric River
- - Second California Storm Brings Another Flood Threat After Weekend Atmospheric River
Jonathan Erdman November 17, 2025 at 5:40 AM
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California is getting soaked by a second Pacific storm with more locally heavy rain just days after an atmospheric river triggered flash flooding, rockslides and some debris flows in the Los Angeles Basin and elsewhere.
Parts of Southern California picked up 6 to 11 inches of rain from the atmospheric river storm late last week into last weekend. We have a recap of that storm at the bottom of this article.
While this second Pacific storm does not have the atmospheric river the first storm had, it is wringing out more rain in the state right now, as the current radar image below shows. That's lead to a few reports of flooding and rockslides in far northern California Sunday night into early Monday.
Forecast Timing
- Monday: The band of soaking rain will move through California, lingering in Southern California Monday night. Scattered showers and thundershowers are possible in parts of Northern California even after the main band of rain clears. Snow will fall in the Sierra, and in the highest elevations of Southern California. Showers with locally heavy rain will move into southern Nevada and Arizona Monday night.
- Tuesday: Some Southern California showers and southern Sierra snow showers may linger. The highest threat of showers and a few thundershowers is in the Desert Southwest from Arizona to southern Utah and southern Nevada.
Impacts
As the map below shows, we expect much of California, parts of Nevada and Arizona to pick up at least another inch of rainfall through Monday night.
The heaviest rain will be in Southern California, particularly in the hills and mountains where an additional 2-4 inches of rain could fall. This means several inches of additional rain are ahead.
This poses a danger of flooded roads prompting closures, rockslides and damaging debris flows, particularly in areas recently burned by wildfires.
We suggest avoiding unnecessary travel in Southern California and if you live near a burn area or an area susceptible to landslides, be ready to evacuate immediately if an order is issued by local officials.
There could also be local flash flooding of normally dry washes and arroyos in the desert, including the Las Vegas and Phoenix metro areas. Never attempt to drive through floodwater. Turn around and find an alternate route.
Expect snow-covered roads in the Sierra, especially the southern Sierra, above 8,000 feet in elevation.
Recap
As we often say, atmospheric rivers are beneficial for the West and provide much-needed lower elevation rainfall and mountain snowfall.
(For More: What is an atmospheric River?)
However, too much of these conditions too quickly, along with gusty winds, can bring hazardous conditions to communities in the region.
The first round of rainfall from the atmospheric river-enhanced storm began late Wednesday into early Thursday across Northern California.
Power outages began to climb into the thousands as widespread gusts of 40-60 mph were reported with higher elevations seeing gusts over 80 mph. Trees and power lines were downed in some areas, including in far northwest California, where multiple downed trees required a closure of the Pacific Coast Highway north of Point Arena.
There were 22 reports of flooding in Northern California Thursday, particularly around the Bay Area and Sacramento metro areas. Rainfall totals of 2 to 5 inches have occurred in the foothills of the northern Sierra, as well as the Santa Cruz and Santa Lucia mountains south of the Bay Area.
On Saturday, there were quite a few rainfall records broken across Southern California. A record 3.18 inches fell in Oxnard, breaking the old record of 1.80 inches set in 1934. This was also the 3rd wettest November day on record.
A record 2.90 inches fell at Santa Barbara Airport, breaking the old record of 1.92 inches set in 1952. With 6.01 inches of rainfall over the last three days, this was the wettest three day stretch in the month of November.
Daily rainfall records were also broken in Sandberg (2.46 inches), Burbank (1.71 inches), Downtown Los Angeles (1.65 inches), Paso Robles (1.49 inches), Long Beach (1.34).
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
Source: “AOL Breaking”
