One of the strongest storms on the West Coast in decades knocked out power for thousands of people, unleashed strong winds that toppled trees and left two dead in Washington before making its way through Oregon to Northern California where on Thursday it dropped heavy snow and record amounts of rain.

The California-Oregon region is bracing for the first major storm of the season, an atmospheric river that potentially could dump nearly 10 inches of rain on the greater Redding area by the weekend. And while the calendar still says fall, the storm kicks off with wintry conditions driven by low snow levels.

Northern California is being slammed by an intense atmospheric river which is bringing extreme amounts of rain and snow to the area, as well as southern Oregon.