Thursday's live blog: Winter storms: prolonged, extensive snow

A large winter storm continues to impact the northern States, from the Great Lakes to the Northeast on Thursday. Heavy snow, ice, heavy rain, and the chance for some storms will be part of the menu today. This blog was updated throughout the day Thursday with the latest information.

More rain and snow are on the way as is another live blog. Check in with Weather & Radar early tomorrow for the latest. As of this update, Big Bear/Snow Summit in California's San Bernardino Mountains has reported a snow total of 37".

Parts of U.S. 101 have closed due to spin outs and snowy conditions according to the California Department of Transportation. Mountain passes will become even more difficult to drive on Friday.

More than 800,000 customers remain without power in Michigan. Power outages are growing in California. Due to snow and rain, nearly 40,000 customers are without power in the Golden State.

Snow is piling up on California's mountain passes. Travel will be challenging to impossible at times. The video below shows snow covered California 330.

In addition to heavy mountain snow, parts of the West Coast will experience heavy rain tomorrow. A moderate risk for excessive rainfall is in place for the Los Angeles metro tomorrow. Flooding will be possible, so stay alert!

Weather & Radar meteorologist Becca Parker has a recap of our current winter storm and a look ahead at what's next. Watch the video below.

Check out the sleet falling near the Hollywood sign!

L.A. is getting some sleet and some slightly higher elevations have already started getting some mixed-in flakes. Heavier snow is falling over the Los Angeles and Ventura Mountains. Big Bear, located about 100 miles east of the city of Los Angeles, in San Bernardino County is currently receiving heavy snow.

Their first-ever blizzard warning was issued by the San Diego National Weather Service office. Just to the north, the Los Angeles weather office last issued one in 1989, and one was issued for the mountains that will be in effect starting early Friday.

Heavy periods of snow in the Southern California mountains will continue to receive heavy periods of snow through Saturday night, even blizzard conditions are forecast to start overnight through Saturday, where visibility will be reduced to ess than a quarter mile as the wind blows snow.

Check out the icy wonderland in Iowa!

Minnesota declared a state of emergency on Wednesday as heavy rounds of snow covered a big chunk of the state. Residents will still have to deal with some snow throughout the afternoon which could add a couple more inches to areas where over 8 inches have fallen already.

Denver woke up to a low temperature of minus 11 degrees! A new record set, the old one was -7. But the wind chills were -25 in the Mile High City. Wyoming had feels-like temperatures of -35 degrees.

Power outages are spreading across the Northeast, with New York reporting over 25,000 customers without electricity at 11 a.m. ET, but poweroutage.us.

Michigan is the hardest hit state this morning as over 700,000 customers are without power. Wisconsin and Illinois report over 60,000 and 80,000 outages, respectively.

Looking at the West Coast, the power outages have been on an upward incline as the next winter storm batters much of the region with heavy rains, snow, and strong winds. Power outages will continue to escalate as the storm hugs the coast and move south. as of 11 a.m. ET, there were over 60,000 outages reported between Oregon and California combined.

Many people in Minnesota woke up with half of their windows covered in snow. The precipitation will continue to be light through the morning and taper off by mid-afternoon.

Another large low-pressure system is affecting the entire West Coast of the United States. this system will be moving down along the coast increasing the chance for snow, heavy rains, strong winds, and even Blizzard light conditions across the mountains of Southern California.

Los Angeles is waking up to wet roads this Thursday and the rain will continue through much of the rest of the week and into the weekend. The Southern California area could expect three to four inches of rain during the next few days.

As the large winter storm that affects the Great Lakes continues to move east its warm front has allowed precipitation to also fall over the Northeast where it is located and attached to another low that has just exited the U.S. Early Thursday morning the snow has fallen heavy across parts of Upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Icy has accumulated over Central New York and western Massachusetts.

Luckily by sunrise, the ice accretion has stopped for most of the area, but mixed precipitation, including freezing rain, continues to be an issue to areas across western Massachusetts. Enjoy the break from the precipitation as more could arrive from the west as the center of the low moves closer to the Northeast late Thursday afternoon.

This second round will come with a fresh coat of rain from Syracuse southward and mixed precipitation for northeastern New York and western and Central Massachusetts. Boston should see rain and maybe some freezing rain by midnight.

The large winter storm continues to move over the Midwest and heavy snow falls Thursday morning across Minneapolis. 1 to 2 inches per hours are probable with some of these snow bands passing over the Great Lakes area. Roads are very dangerous and should be avoided as the winds are strong, blowing snow and reducing visibility.