California Bomb Cyclone: At Least 1 Dead, 200,000 Without Electricity

California Bomb Cyclone: 1 Dead, 200,000 Without Electricity — California was hit by a severe storm on the second day of spring, killing at least one person and leaving floods and hundreds of thousands without power. Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

A severe storm brought additional rain, snow, and hazards to California on the second spring day, and at least one person got killed in the weather event.

According to the LA Times, the California Highway Patrol reports that the unidentified victim was killed when a tree fell on their car on Alpine Road in Portola Valley.

The California storm, identified as a bomb cyclone, snarled traffic, shattered skyscraper glass, and left tens of thousands without electricity in the Bay Area and Central Coast.

Con Fire is clearing the scene of vehicle accident in Rossmoor. A large tree fell onto a car while traveling on Stanley Dollar. The driver sustained minor injuries and the passenger died in the accident. Please avoid the area, the roadway is still blocked will remain closed. pic.twitter.com/DReceZDZ9x
— Con Fire PIO (@ContraCostaFire) March 22, 2023

UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said in a briefing on Tuesday that the storm had hit far harder than predicted, especially in the southern half of the San Francisco Bay and Monterey Bay sectors.

Bombogenesis, often known as a bomb cyclone, is characterized by a rapid decrease in pressure. He indicated that the system had met the threshold for this phenomenon.

The California storm hit the San Francisco and Monterey bay regions on Tuesday afternoon and evening, knocking out power to tens of thousands of residents. Heavy rain, snow, and gusty winds are being brought to Southern California by the same storm, and they are expected to last through Wednesday.

California Storm Leaves Over 200,000 Without Power

PowerOutage.us monitors utility outages and reports that as of Tuesday evening, over 200,000 people throughout the state were without electricity, down from almost 250,000 earlier in the day, per The Washington Post.

The storm, the 12th atmospheric river to interact with California since late December, is a Pacific low-pressure system, according to the National Weather Service, CBS News reported. After years of drought, California saw arctic-air-powered February blizzards.

The California storms have caused widespread flooding, the mountains have been buried in so much snow that houses have been smashed, and workers have had a hard time clearing the roads of avalanches.