Residents on both sides of the country are experiencing the fullimpact of Mother Nature as high wind warnings, flood watches andeven a blizzard warning threaten the West Coast, while a Nor'easterdumps more than a foot of snow in some parts of the East Coast.

West Coast rains and wind

California, which has been suffering from an extensive drought,faces a flash flooding threat as three to five inches of rain isforecast from western Washington to northern California from whatthe National Weather Service describes as a “plume ofmoisture.”

In the Sierra foothills, forecasters are saying as much as eightinches of rain could bring flash floods, mud and rock slides.Southern California will be spared the torrential rains, expectingonly an inch of rain.

A resident of Gelndra, Calif.places sandbags to protect his home from mudslides below mountainsburned over in widlfires on Dec. 10. A powerful storm expected topack hurricane-force winds and heavy rain triggered emergencypreparations across Northern California, with residents gatheringsand bags, crews clearing storm drains, and San Francisco schoolofficials canceling classes for the first time since 9/11. (APPhoto/Nick Ut)

A blizzard warning is out for the Sierra Nevada region as windsranging from 25 to 50 mph are expected with a possibility of one tothree feet of snow through Friday.

According to The Weather Channel, wind is also posing a threatto parts of the Northwest with gusts over 50 mph impacting much ofsouthwest Oregon and northern California, an area that hasn't seen high wind warnings in more than two years. Portland andSeattle are both under high wind warnings, and parts of Californiacould see severe damage from downed trees and power lines. Morethan 17 million residents were under high wind warnings yesterdayalone.

In San Francisco, schools were closed because of the weather.Along the coast, residents were fortifying their properties withsandbags or evacuating altogether because of high winds and roughsurf with waves over 15 feet high.

East Coast snow

A woman's umbrella is upset bythe wind during the storm in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/MattRourke)

On the East Coast, some residents were bracing for high windsand more than a foot of snow in some areas from Pennsylvania toMaine. Winter Storm Damon threatened to impact much of the area hitby Sandy just two years ago. According to The Weather Channel,parts of the Jersey Shore and Long Island saw high tides, butnothing like the damage from Sandy.

Western New York, already hit by one major storm beforeThanksgiving, saw snow totals well over a foot in many areas. Partsof Vermont also had snow totals ranging from 11 inches in EastCraftsbury to at least 19 inches in Killington, providing a greatbase for ski resorts in the area.

Heavy snow knocked out power to more than 30,000 residents andparts of I-81 were closed due to snow and multiple accidents. Topsnow falls included 20 inches in Jamesville, N.Y.; 19.8 inErieville, N.Y.; and 19 in Killington, Vt. Wind gusts ranged from ahigh of 85 mph in Mount Washington, N.H., to 48 mph aroundBoston/Logan airport.

The storm is expected to blow offshore and gradually weakenthroughout the day.