Storms to Bring Heavy Rain, Snow, Wind to Western US Over Thanksgiving Weekend

— -- A series of storms brewing in the western United States is expected to bring heavy rain, snow and strong winds to the area over Thanksgiving weekend, leading to potentially dangerous travel conditions.

Heavy rain on Thanksgiving has already flooded parts of Portland, Oregon. The rate of rainfall in the area ranged from 0.5 inches to 1 inch per hour on Thursday. Up to 5.7 inches of rain fell on the northwest coast and northern Cascades of Oregon, while rain totals in the greater Portland region ranged from 2 to 5 inches, according to forecasters.

More snow is expected for much of the Mountain West this weekend, potentially creating dangerous travel conditions in the high country and over mountain passes. Snowfall totals through this morning in the Cascades is expected to be 8 to 18 inches, forecasters said.

“I expect several rounds of mountain snow to spread inland well into the Rockies, and some mountain snow will also be likely down the Sierra Nevada range,” ABC News senior meteorologist Daniel Manzo said. “Travel delays will be likely through the mountain passes where storm totals in the Cascades could be as high as 3 feet [of snow] by the end of the weekend.”

Strong winds are likely this weekend along the coastline of Oregon and Washington states, where gusts could get up to 60 mph. Further south in the Sierra, wind is expected to be 30 to 50 mph this afternoon, forecasters said Friday.

Dry and breezy conditions are expected to persist in southern California through early Saturday. Rain is in the forecast for the region on Saturday afternoon and evening, while snow could dust the southern California mountaintops. An estimated 2 to 5 inches of rain is expected for a large portion of the West Coast this weekend, and parts of northern California and southern Oregon could receive an additional 6 inches, according to forecasters.

Meanwhile, the rest of the nation will have relatively calm weather over the holiday weekend. The northeast region could see isolated to scattered snow and rain showers, and light rain is possible in the central U.S. But rainfall totals are not expected to accumulate much in these areas, according to forecasters.

“There is no storm, no system moving east or casting travel concerns east of the Rocky Mountains this weekend,” Manzo said. “We’ll have to wait until the new workweek before any significant weather event affecting the central U.S.”