Bill Karins, Meteorologist

Things are looking quite stormy for California heading into the weekend.

Three storms will move into the West Coast over the next three days causing numerous problems through all of California. The weather will also be nasty in WA, OR and NV but the worst damage and power outages will be in CA.

The first storm will move in today and tonight and only cause minimal problems with rain and wind.

The second storm on Friday will be the most powerful and cause significant disruptions for residents. The heavy rain will cause flooding of small streams and poor drainage areas everywhere. Los Angeles is expected to get 2-4 inches of rain; they only had 5.5 inches all last year. The wind gusts in the cities will be at tropical storm strength (>39mph) and in the mountains hurricane strength. (>74mph) The snow will be incredible above 7000 feet.

Areas that remain all snow will likely end up with 4-8 Feet! Areas like Truckee, Tahoe and Yosemite will see 2-4 feet (all near 6000 feet). The hurricane force wind gusts will accompany the snow making for impossible driving conditions. Interstate 80 will likely be closed for much of Fri and Sat. The strong winds with Friday/Friday Night's storm will cause scattered power outages from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

After the second storm moves ashore, very large swells will pound the coast Friday night into Saturday morning. The waves will peak Sat am at 25-30 feet. These will make for great pictures but should only cause minor coastal flooding.

The third storm will move through Sat night. This storm will be much like the first storm but it will have colder air to work with. More heavy snow is expected in the mountains. The mints outside of L.A. will likely see snow above 4000 feet. The rain and snow from this final storm will move out of the west and into the Central Rockies on Monday.