LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rain is drenching Southern California as a powerful storm slides down the state, snarling traffic and raising the threat of mudslides in areas scarred by wildfires.

The National Weather Service says one area of Santa Barbara County received nearly 7 inches of rain before dawn on Tuesday. Snow continues to fall in the mountains of Northern California, where the storm arrived earlier.

Avalanche warnings are in effect in the eastern Sierra Nevada. The powerful atmospheric river weather system sucking up moisture from the Pacific Ocean is expected to dump more than 8 feet of snow on the highest peaks of California and Nevada.