How will the 'bomb cyclone' up north impact us down in Southern California?

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The entire northwestern United States is getting slammed this week by a powerful bomb cyclone system that could drop nine inches or more of rain in some areas in a matter of days.

Southern California isn't immune.

While the bulk of the storm will be contained to north of the Bay Area, SoCal could see some heavy rain over the weekend.

Bomb cyclone causing power outages, travel delays in northwest

A bomb cyclone storm is dumping inches of rain on Northern California, Oregon and Washington state, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power.

The precipitation should start arriving by late Saturday. By Sunday it could drop up to an inch of rain on the Los Angeles basin, and possibly up to two inches in some mountain and foothill areas. Mountain communities will also see snow at higher elevations, above 8,000 feet.

Temperatures will also drop sharply, from a high of 71 on Friday in Los Angeles to 61 by Sunday. Mountain communities will drop to the 40s.

New satellite images show a "bomb cyclone" taking aim at the Pacific Northwest. The storm will bring at atmospheric river to Northern California, but how will it impact Southern California?

Lighter rain will then continue for at least another day or two past the weekend.

The system is good news for SoCal surfers, who will see bigger swells at local beaches, in the 3-5 foot range, over the next several days through the weekend.

A bomb cyclone is defined as a storm that strengthens rapidly accompanied by a sharp drop in atmospheric pressure, a decrease of 24 millibars in 24 hours.

It's a result of an atmospheric river, or a long ribbon of moisture stretching far out over the Pacific Ocean. The river is joining forces with a polar jet stream blowing down from Canada, bringing a mass of cold air.

What is a bomb cyclone?

An atmospheric river may be approaching Northern California, bringing heavy rain, the National Weather Service said Sunday.