Eowyn stings Ireland and the UK while rain is finally forecast in California

Storm Eowyn continues to taunt Europe on Friday after thrashing Ireland and the United Kingdom with damaging wind and huge waves. It’s the finale of a storm reborn that struck the Gulf Coast with snow earlier in the week. Over coming days, wet gold in the form of rain is also likely to fall from the sky in Southern California, a place that sorely needs it.

Weather Watch

Storm Eowyn blasts Europe. The wild forecasts were spot on. As a sting jet from dangerous Eowyn came ashore Thursday night and early Friday, a gust of 114 mph was observed at Mace Head on the coast of northwestern Ireland. Nearly 1 million customers were without power in a nation of 5.25 million Friday. At least 93 mph has also been reported in the United Kingdom, at Aberdaron in Wales. The storm strengthened to near 940 millibars, which is right around a record for lowest pressure in the region.

California rain. It’s another day of elevated fire threat in Southern California, but changes are afoot. Low pressure aloft will slink down the coast through the weekend and into early next week, ultimately delivering cooler weather, rain and mountain snow. About an inch of rain is forecast in Los Angeles County, with some locations perhaps picking up about twice that. At least a foot of snow could fall in mountainous elevations over 4,500 feet.

Lightning link

There are fears that the world’s biggest iceberg could hit an island in the South Atlantic.

Follow-up Friday

As meteorologist and data guru Tomer Burg reminded earlier this week, it can be worth waiting for a picture to fully develop. With 12,000 daily reports now in their larger contiguous U.S. database, NOAA’s NOHRSC offers a proper representation of the historic Gulf Coast snowstorm.

Storm totals of 3 to 6 inches were common from Texas, through the northern Gulf Coast region, then across the coastal Carolinas. Totals of 11.5 inches in Louisiana, 11 inches in Alabama, 9.8 inches in Florida and 8 inches on Hatteras Island were among the most impressive measurements.

In addition to the once-a-lifetime snow, temperatures fell as far as they have in the modern record in parts of Louisiana and other locations pasted in white. Lows in the single digits and teens fostered widespread records, including in Lafayette, La., where readings of 2-to-4 degrees Wednesday were the coldest ever observed.

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