Massive winter storm creates chaos, havoc for US state of California

A massive winter storm blanketed the state of California on Friday threatening treacherous blizzard conditions as far south as San Diego that could continue wreaking havoc through the weekend. 

"A Blizzard Warning, the first issued by this office, is now in effect for the San Bernardino County Mountains from 4 AM Friday to 4 PM Saturday," the National Weather Service (NWS) in San Diego tweeted. "Travel will be VERY DIFFICULT TO IMPOSSIBLE due to the extremely heavy snow and extremely high winds expected."

Forecasters predict that up to 5 feet of snow may fall in the mountains of Big Bear Lake, about two hours northeast of Los Angeles, creating whiteout conditions and wind gusts of up to 75 miles per hour (120 kilometers per hour), with extreme weather conditions raising the risk of avalanches.

"This storm should not be taken lightly!" officials tweeted in the city of Big Bear Lake. "Stay home. Stay warm. Stay safe."

"We can potentially receive upwards of 3-5 ft (maybe more) of snow tonight," it said.

In Santa Clarita, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, parts of Interstate 5 were closed Friday due to a mudslide, according to the California Department of Transporation. Heavy snow had fallen Thursday night when the storm began moving into the state.

In northern California, lack of visibility led to road closures along Interstate 80 between San Francisco and the state's capital of Sacramento.

At least 3 million Californians were under a winter storm warning as of Friday and 150,000 customers were without electricity.

While the forecast for heavy snow has put much of the state on high alert, the southern coastal areas could also face threats from heavy rain and flooding, with the greater Los Angeles area possibly getting two to four inches of rainfall, according to the NWS.

"Latest radar ... shows continuing heavy showers & isolated thunderstorms," tweeted the NWS in Los Angeles. "Weak tornadoes are possible. Rain will continue over all areas with rain rates increasing at times to 0.25 to 0.50 per hour."

Evacuation warnings were issued through Saturday morning just north of Los Angeles in Ventura County for areas considered unstable after being hit hard by storms that killed more than one dozen people last month.

“We’re just watching hour by hour,” Dave Fleisch, the county's assistant public works director, told the Ventura Country Star newspaper.