Tens of thousands of homes in Washington state lost power Tuesday and downed wires or trees locked some highways as Northern California and the Pacific Northwest started feeling the effects of a powerful atmospheric river event,

A series of storms fueled by a strong atmospheric river is taking aim at the Bay Area and Northern California, intensified by a so-called "bomb cyclone" that promises heavy rain and potential flooding.

It may be sunny skies Tuesday, but an atmospheric river, supercharged through "bombogenesis," is about to hit the Bay Area. The weather phenomenon is barreling toward the West Coast and has plans to stick around Northern California for days,