California was hit by a powerful blizzard at the weekend that affected the Sierra Nevada mountain range. A blizzard is a combination of dry, powdery snow alongside strong winds; it can also contain lightning. Under its most intense bursts, the blizzard that struck California produced up to 152mm (6in) of snow an hour and 190mph (306km/h) gusts.
By 6am local time on Saturday, the Mammoth Mountain ski area received 0.6 metres (almost 2ft) of snow and was forced to close. The National Weather Service described this event as life threatening. The snow continued to fall overnight, with up to 3.7 metres sweeping the highest parts of the mountain range by Sunday morning.
Warnings for extreme avalanches were put in place across the greater Tahoe region until that afternoon and people were advised to remain indoors. Although conditions look more settled at the start of this week, there is a risk of further snowfall on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, northern India also experienced significant snowfall and rainfall in recent days. Over high ground, in Himachal Pradesh, more than 500mm of snow was recorded early last week, leading to 350 road closures including four national highways. The snowfall cut power to many, and people have been urged to not leave their homes unless necessary amid avalanche concerns.
On lower ground, heavy rainfall caused travel disruption, with more than 80mm recorded in the town of Manali and about 30mm across other parts of the state. A red warning for thunderstorms was issued on Saturday.
Thunderstorms are also expected to affect the United Arab Emirates from Monday night until Tuesday afternoon, bringing hourly rainfall totals of about 10-15mm alongside hail and lightning. The strong winds that will accompany these storms will blow sand and dust, in turn reducing visibility and creating rough conditions at sea.
Later in the week, temperatures are likely to drop across the Persian Gulf to 10C (50F) below the seasonal average across Oman, the UAE, southern Iran and Saudi Arabia.
