Santa Barbara evacuates for flood threat as California cities see rare tornado warning: Live

Supercells are beginning to form over California today, worsening an already severe weather situation in the state.

Supercells are storm systems that generate rotating winds and a strong updraft — meaning they can cause both hail and tornadoes in the regions they impact.

These supercells come as parts of California are already under tornado threats — and heavy thunderstorms are threatening much of the state.

As of 7pm Pacific Time, the latest bulletin from the National Weather Service (NWS) remains largely unchanged from earlier this afternoon.

«Gusty southerly winds will continue thru early this evening, especially over the Ventura County and LA County mountains and the Antelope Valley, where wind advisories remain in effect until 6pm,» the NWS said.

«Additional rainfall tonight through Wed morning is expected to be highest over LA County, with 1.5 to three inches for the coast and valleys, and two to four inches in the mountains, with most of the rain falling tonight through Tue.

«Tornado warnings for Meadow Valley, Belden, Tobin, Kelly Ridge, Berry Creek, and Meadow Valley, had expired as of 4:30pm local time, according to the NWS’s tornado-focused account on X (formerly Twitter).

A tornado warning for Georgetown in northeastern California also expired at 6:45pm, according to the NWS’s Sacramento branch.

Numerous roads have been closed and residential areas evacuated due to the risk of floods and mudflows.

The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department issued an evacuation warning for some parts of Santa Maria Road near Topanga Canyon, northwest of the city proper, lasting through 9am on Wednesday.

Residents should prepare to evacuated rapidly if the situation worsens, the department said, while those who would need extra time (such as people with pets and livestock) should leave immediately.

Los Angeles County officials also issued an alert for debris flows in the northern San Fernando Valley, saying evacuations may be ordered if conditions require it.

Part of Mullholland Drive remained closed to through traffic on Monday evening following landslides earlier this month, while the Pacific Coast Highway will be closed between 6pm and 7am every night between Sycamore Canyon Road and Las Posas Road in Ventura County.

Over the last two days, nearly 10 inches of rain fell in Santa Barbara County, California, according to the National Weather Service. Other nearby counties mostly saw 6-8 inches of rain.

Several Santa Barbara County neighbourhoods are under evacuation warnings as rain continues, brining threats of flash floods.

As a brutal storm blows into California, wind gusts peaked at 61 miles per hour in the state’s southern region yesterday.

Meanwhile, Santa Rosa island, just off the state’s coast, saw peak gusts of 63 miles per hour.

Elsewhere in Southern California, wind gusts peaked in the 40s and 50s, according to the National Weather Service. Gusts are only expected to worsen as the storm blows through the state until Wednesday.

California was previously battered by similar weather systems, during which nine people were killed, and billions of dollars worth of damage was incurred.

Read more about officials’ concerns about today’s storm from Mike Bedigan:

More than ten inches of snow hit the central Sierra Nevada Mountains, according to the University of California, Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab. Another two feet could blanket the region by Wednesday morning.