The atmospheric river impacting northern CA and southwestern OR could bring up to 5 feet of snow in the mountains and up to 15 inches of rain in parts of the Golden State.

The first storm was forecast to linger into the weekend and produce an additional 6-12 inches of rainfall, the weather service said. An atmospheric river prompted a high-risk warning for excessive rainfall along the Northern California coast.

The storm exploded into a bomb cyclone off the coast, near Vancouver Island, Canada, where winds gusted near 101 mph. A bomb cyclone means the pressure in the center of the storm drops 24 millibars within 24 hours. Wind gusts reached 50 to 84 mph from Northern California to Washington.