California Faces New Flood Risk as Storm Moves On: Weather Watch

California’s flood threat isn’t over even as the storm currently battering the state whirls its way across the US West.

The US Climate Prediction Center said there is the potential for more heavy rain and snow across Southern California and Arizona from Feb. 17 to 20.

There is also a chance of late showers in Los Angeles on Wednesday with the potential for a 0.25 of an inch (0.63 cm) to a half inch (1.27 cm) overnight. For the month so far, 8.72 inches have fallen in the city, which is 8.17 inches above normal.

The current storm is now raising winter storm warnings and weather advisories across parts of the West including Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. There are also warnings up in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. It is going to snow for the rest of the week in Flagstaff, Arizona, with a potential for as much as 16 inches.

In other weather news:

Chile: Wildfires in the country have caused great loss of life and destruction. Chile’s coroner’s office raised the death toll from fires that swept through the region of Valparaiso to 131 on Tuesday, according to a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Africa: There are fires burning across east and central Africa this morning. Air quality in many areas is unhealthy to hazardous. The worst air in the world this morning is in Accra, Ghana, the nation’s capital, on the Gulf of Guinea.

Tropics: Tropical Cyclone Nat is rolling south of Papeete in the South Pacific with tropical-storm strength winds on the US scale.

UK: A snow and ice warning are up for Scotland through lunchtime, said Clare Nasir, a meteorologist with the UK Met Office, as Arctic air spreads across the UK. Rain will arrive Thursday across southern England and Wales before moving north, where it will encounter colder air. That could touch off snow throughout central England, the high country in Wales and parts of Northern Ireland. “There could be some impactful snow,” Nasir said.