For California, ‘One of the Most Dramatic Weather Days’

It’s Monday. Yesterday was a weather day for the record books — and today could be one, too. Plus, the California State Senate has a new leader.

If you’re in California, you’ve probably been through some wild weather over the past 24 hours. The National Weather Service called Sunday “one of the most dramatic weather days in recent memory.”

California’s biggest storm so far this year whipped the surf along the coast, sent tree branches skittering through streets and snapped power lines as it pummeled the state. In much of Northern California, the storm’s howling winds seemed to wreak more havoc than the driving rain did: In some areas, gusts reached 88 miles an hour, rivaling those of a Category 1 hurricane.

As of 5 a.m. today, more than 560,000 homes and businesses in the state were without power, with the worst outages in the San Joaquin Valley, the Bay Area and the Central Coast. That was down from more 800,000 at 10 p.m. Sunday, as utility crews worked overnight to start getting the lights back on.

Forecasters warn that the worst may still be ahead for California. An atmospheric river hovering over the Los Angeles region is expected to bring precipitation to already soaked lowlands and mountains well into this evening, and the rain may continue into tomorrow. A number of roads, especially in canyons around Los Angeles, were affected by mud and rockslides overnight.

“The major wind and power outages will be the less dangerous part of the storm, relative to what’s about to unfold, and is starting to unfold, in Southern California,” Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, told reporters Sunday night. “If you’re worried about the north, I’m more worried about the south and what’s to come.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for eight counties in Southern California, including Los Angeles, San Bernardino and San Diego. That allows the state to mobilize the National Guard for emergency response if needed.

By Sunday evening, emergency workers had rescued drivers stranded in floodwaters in Los Angeles, mudslides had overtaken a stretch of a winding highway in Ventura County and evacuation orders had been issued for parts of Orange County.

The Santa Barbara Airport abruptly closed on Sunday after the airfield flooded. Santa Barbara Unified schools will be closed on Monday because of the storm, and the district will let families know today whether schools will be open for classes on Tuesday.

Swain, the climate scientist, said that getting to work and school — either by car or by foot — on Monday morning would probably be a risky proposition for people in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

“L.A. County is going to be at the center of this flood risk,” Swain said. “And the flood risk is very high, higher than we’ve seen in many years. This is something that is not ordinary.”

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And before you go, some good news

Two wildlife experts have captured video images of what they believe to be a newborn great white shark off the cost of Southern California, an extremely rare sighting of the vulnerable species, The Los Angeles Times reports.

The experts — Phillip Sternes, a doctoral student at U.C. Riverside and Carlos Gauna, a videographer — made the discovery while reviewing drone footage they recorded over the summer off the coast of Carpinteria, near Santa Barbara.

In the video, a small, pale-colored great white shark appears to be shedding a layer of skin, evidence that the shark could be a newborn and possibly the youngest ever captured on camera in the wild, according to a recent scientific paper published by Sternes and Gauna.

If they are correct, the images would be a breakthrough for researchers studying the species’ reproductive habits. Scientists have not previously known where great white sharks are born or observed newborn pups in the wild.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. Stay dry out there. — Soumya

P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword.

Maia Coleman, Briana Scalia and Kellina Moore contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at [email protected].

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