With Series of Winter Storms on Tap This Week, PG&E Urges Customers to Stay Safe, Be Prepared and Have an Emergency Plan

Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) team of meteorologists is forecasting a series of winter storms over the next several days. PG&E is encouraging customers to be prepared and have a plan in case of weather-related power outages.

The storm series is shaping up to be an atmospheric river-type event with widespread heavy rain, gusty winds, and heavy, low-elevation snow, and will unfold Tuesday afternoon and continue into Thursday. The effects will be felt across the entire PG&E service area, particularly in the Sierra foothills, where snow levels could drop as low as 2,000 feet. At higher elevations, accumulation could mean several feet of snow.

“While cold temperatures, heavy mountain snow, and precipitation will deliver some much-needed moisture to our drought-impacted region, we expect this adverse weather to also result in some weather-related power outages. We’re urging our customers to stay safe and have a plan. Our team is closely watching this storm series and where it could hit the hardest so we’re ready to restore power safely and efficiently,” said PG&E Manager of Meteorology and Fire Science, Scott Strenfel.

PG&E’s meteorology team leverages its Storm Outage Prediction Model that incorporates real-time weather forecasts, 30 years of historical weather and outage data along with system knowledge to accurately predict when and where storm impacts will be most severe. This model enables the company to pre-stage crews, equipment and resources as storms approach to enable rapid response to outages.

Along the North Coast and in the Sacramento Valley, over a 48-hour period starting Tuesday night, two to four inches of rain are possible for low-elevation and urban areas, with six to eight inches of snow accumulation across elevated terrain and through the northern Sierra. In the Central and Southern Sierra, PG&E meteorologists say, heavy mountain snows will occur and gusty winds are expected to develop, with the strongest gusts peaking around 55-65 mph; in the Bay Area, this system will bring moderate to heavy rainfall and gusty winds through Thursday evening, with a slight possibility of some snow accumulation on the highest peaks of the surrounding hills.