April 27 (UPI) -- Historic snowfall in the Sierra Nevada this past winter is now expected to start melting with warmer temperatures this weekend, potentially turning it into record flooding in California and along the Mississippi River.
California, has already experienced numerous atmospheric river storms saturate its valleys and filled rivers this spring also saw 500 inches of snow during the winter, some of which will melt into water.
"This week is going to be an exclamation point on the warming process," Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said, calling the upcoming spring, "the big melt."
The San Joaquin Valley started to witness melting on Wednesday and the Tulare Lake Basin has already reached overflowing stages.
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