meteorologist

The storm could bring heavy snow to the Sierra Nevada, and meteorologists were already discouraging travel during the peak time of the snowstorm — between Thursday morning and Friday morning.

Fung-wong, expected to be a "super typhoon" before making landfall, bears a huge footprint, with a radius that could cover "almost the entire country," a government meteorologist said.

The rain, which began Tuesday, is expected to continue until Friday around 9 or 10 a.m., according to Sacramento meteorologist Sara Purdue.

“Initially we were hoping so, but our fire weather manager spoke with fuel experts with Los Angeles County Fire and the Angeles National Forest,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Lewis.

The worst floods Spain had seen for decades - a phenomenon known by meteorologists as the Dana - killed 229 people in the region, with another eight dying in neighbouring Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia.