On Wednesday at 1:22 p.m. the NWS Sacramento CA issued a winter storm warning valid from 4 p.m. until Friday 10 p.m. The warning is for Shasta Lake and Mountains Southwestern Shasta County to Western Colusa County as well as Shasta County.

California officials and weather forecasters urged holiday travelers to avoid the roads on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day ahead of a series of powerful winter storms that threatened to slam the state with relentless rains, heavy winds and mountain snow through Friday.

Articles and videos about Gov. Newsom declares state of emergency regarding California storms on KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco.

The National Weather Service has warned of "extremely dangerous travel conditions" as storms blow in over Christmas.

Several days of rain and powerful wind gusts are in the forecast this week when a winter storm has already led to evacuation warnings in parts of Los Angeles County settles into Southern California for the holiday.

Forecasters say expected 'worst Christmas storm' is elevating flood risk for a large swath of southwest California.