January 2010 North American winter storms

The storms developed from the combination of a strong El Niño episode, a powerful jet stream,[7] and an atmospheric river that opened from the West Pacific Ocean into the Western Seaboard.[4][5][13][14][6] From January 14 to 15, 2010, six extratropical disturbances developed over the north Pacific, within a large trough of low pressure, from the waters south of the Aleutian Islands to the east coast of Japan.[3][22] The storm was steered northeastward by a blocking ridge of high pressure over the Central United States, and made landfall on British Columbia on January 18, before dissipating late that day.[37] The fifth storm then moved northward and weakened,[38] stalling over the northeast Pacific for another several days, before being absorbed into another approaching extratropical cyclone late on January 24.[3] On January 18, 23,000 customers in Southern California lost power for a short time, due to the flooding caused by one of the storms.[50] On January 19, the fourth storm impacted Southern California, bringing flooding and powerful winds to Santee in San Diego County.[51] On the afternoon of January 19, the National Weather Service issued two tornado warnings for San Diego County within hours of each other, as potentially tornadic thunderstorms crossed the area.[52][53] On the morning of January 20, more than 500 homes were evacuated as floods struck multiple regions in California, as up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain fell in the storms that had impacted the state by that point.[57] Freshly-fallen snow blanketed the north side of the San Gabriel Mountains on the morning of January 23, 2010, northwest of Wrightwood, California, after the sixth storm had left.[59] On January 25, Mayor Liz Harris of the City of Big Bear Lake issued a state of emergency, due to the damage caused by the storm.[28] A third tornado was reported by the public in Orange County, with cars overturned on the Pacific Coast Highway and roof damage in the area.
Satellite image of the third storm (the second storm to affect California) near peak intensity, on January 18
Satellite image of the sixth storm (the fifth storm to affect California) at peak intensity on January 21, shortly before landfall
North American blizzards of 2010SuperstormBomb cycloneExtratropical cycloneBlizzardUpper-level lowTornado outbreakMammoth LakesSierra NevadaAlaskaContiguous United StatesCanadaMexicoGreenland2009–10 North American wintertornado outbreaks of 2010Enhanced Fujita scalewinter stormsCaliforniaEl Niñojet streamatmospheric riverWestern SeaboardWestern United StatesSouthwestern United StatestornadoeswaterspoutshurricaneextratropicaltroughAleutian Islands1997–98Pacific NorthwestcycloneGulf of AlaskaBritish ColumbiaWest Coast of the United Statesgale-forceridge of high pressureCentral United Statesbombing outNational Weather ServiceSan Diego CountyOregonNorthern CaliforniaSan FranciscoPineapple ExpressEurekaVenturaSouthern CaliforniaEastern United StatesEastern CanadaHudson BaySanteesinkholelightningSanta Barbaratornado warningsLong BeachAnaheimFlash floodSiskiyou Countypower linesmudslidesdroughtsnowpacksLa Paz County, ArizonaSan Gabriel MountainsWrightwood, CaliforniaCity of Big Bear LakeFlagstaffYavapai CountyWikieupBig Sandy RiverGreat PlainsPennsylvaniaNew JerseySan Diego CountiesHuntington BeachOrange CountyPacific Coast HighwayBlythe, CaliforniaSanta Barbara, CaliforniaWest FresnoFresnoCalifornia State Route 180Isla VistaSeal BeachOrangecatamaransmesonetHuntington Beach PierRipleyBlytheRiversideBrentwoodContra CostaColumbus Day Storm of 1962Los Angeles County flood of 2005January 2008 North American storm complexOctober 2009 North American storm complexGlobal storm activity of 2010Tornadoes of 2010October 2010 North American storm complexDecember 2010 North American blizzardNovember 2011 Bering Sea cycloneJanuary 2013 Northwest Pacific cycloneMarch 2014 North American winter stormNovember 2014 Bering Sea cycloneDecember 2014 North American storm complexJanuary 2015 North American blizzard2017 California floodsLa Niñatime zoneCoordinated Universal TimeAmerican Meteorological SocietyBibcodeMajor snow and ice events in the United States2009–102010–112011–122012–132013–142014–152015–162016–172017–182018–192019–202020–212021–222022–232023–242024–25Feb 27–Mar 7Oct 4–11Jan 6–10Jan 12–13Mar 11–14Feb 11–14Nov 27–28Nov 6–11Mar 15–18Jan 27–28Nov 10–12Dec 25–26Nov 24–30Feb 17–18Mar 18–19Mar 18–22Mar 2–5Dec 11–13Jan 11–13Jan 18–21Mar 6–8Oct 25–30Dec 30, 1963 – Jan 4Jan 27–31Jan 26–27Feb 8–10Mar 5–8Dec 25–28Mar 3–5Jan 9–12Jan 28 – Feb 1Jan 25–27Feb 5–7Jan 13–14February 9–12Dec 22 – 24Oct 31 – Nov 3Dec 10–12Mar 12–15Feb 2–6Mar 31 – Apr 1Oct 24–26Jan 4–10Jan 2–4Jan 14–15Jan 18–30Dec 27–31Jan 29–31Dec 4–5Feb 14–19Dec 5–8Feb 17–23Dec 21–24Dec 24–28Jan 20–23Dec 14–16Feb 11–13Oct 11–13Nov 20–24Nov 26 – Dec 1Dec 20 – Jan 1Jan 11–24Feb 12–20Apr 13–17Nov 29 – Dec 4Nov 29 – Dec 5Dec 8–18Jan 3–11Mar 6–10Dec 11–12Dec 19–25Jan 25–30Oct 13–20Dec 16–20Dec 22–28Feb 1–6Feb 7–11Feb 24–27Mar 12–16Oct 23–28Dec 5–29Jan 8–13Jan 24–28Jan 29 – Feb 3Oct 28 – Nov 1Nov 8–10Jan 16–20Oct 29 – Nov 2Nov 7–10Dec 17–22Feb 7–10Mar 1–10Mar 18–20Oct 3–5Nov 22–28Dec 19–23Dec 30, 2013 – Jan 4Jan 20–22Feb 27 – Mar 4Mar 24–28Nov 8–13Nov 13–21Dec 9–11Dec 10–27Jan 23–30Jan 31 – Feb 2Feb 12–17Feb 25–26Mar 1–6Nov 24–27Dec 26–30Jan 21–24Jan 29 – Feb 7Feb 23–24Mar 21–25Apr 15–23Dec 23–26Jan 4–8Jan 7–13Jan 10–17Jan 19–24Feb 6–10Feb 12–14Feb 8–22Mar 11–15Oct 29–31Dec 8–10Jan 2–5Mar 1–3Mar 20–22Apr 12–15Nov 14-15Jan 16–21Apr 10–12Nov 26 – Dec 3Dec 21–26Jan 14–19Feb 2–5Oct 29–30Nov 29 – Dec 2Dec 4–6Dec 14–18Dec 30 – Jan 2, 2021Jan 25 – Feb 4Feb 6–8Feb 10–12Feb 13–17Feb 15–20Mar 10–17Apr 15–17Dec 9–12Dec 13–18Jan 3–4Jan 14–17Jan 27–30Feb 1–5Feb 22-26Nov 17–20Jan 31–Feb 2Feb 21–28Mar 9–17Jan 8–10Jan 13–16Feb 1–7Feb 10–13Jan 3–7Jan 9–11Jan 18–20Cold waveExtreme weatherPolar vortexStorm naming