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Sustained warmth continued to break daily records across the region. And to top it off, there was hardly any precipitation.

(MORE:Did Winter Forget The West?)

But I have some good news for all of us. The pattern that lasted through much of the winter is finally breaking down.

And with that comes cooler temperatures and the chance for rain and mountain snow.

First Round: Through Wednesday

The first round of rain and snow is ongoing across California now.

Think of this first round as more of a nuisance than anything else. Rainfall across the lower elevations isn't expected to be extreme at this point.

But the snowfall is more significant.

Winter weather alerts are in place across the Sierra Nevada and parts of the Rockies until Wednesday afternoon. The highest snowfall totals are in the winter storm warnings, as indicated by the dark blue on the map below.

Next Week Gets Interesting

What's ongoing this week is just foreshadowing what's to come. Models are pointing to significant precipitation beginning Sunday and lasting into next week.

This will likely mean that the California snowpack will see a major boost.

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This is good news, as the snowpack in California is running about 50% of where it should be at this time of the year,according to the California Department of Water Resources.

While skiers and snowboarders are rejoicing, those across lower elevations may have some concerns.

With this pattern shift, there is a chance of days of sustained rainfall across California. That also means there is an increasing flood threat for the state, especially across burn scars.

This rainfall could last for days and could bring soaking weather as far south as Los Angeles and San Diego.

(FORECAST:Los Angeles|San Diego)

Why The Shift?

Most of the winter has seen the jet stream pulling north of the West and dipping to the South in the East. This pattern leads to less rainfall and warmer temperatures out West.

The graphic below shows what will happen next week. The jet stream will continue to dip to the south across the West, leading to cooler temperatures and an influx of much-needed rain and snow.

Why The Snowpack Matters

The snowpack across the West isn't just for skiers and snowboarders. It also helps provide a freshwater source to the West in the drier months.

This is why the lack of snowfall has been so concerning. The West is dependent on snow, which they haven't been seeing.

States like Colorado are even seeing record snowfall deficits this season.

Rob Shackelfordis a meteorologist and climate scientist at weather.com. He received his undergraduate and master's degrees from the University of Georgia studying meteorology and experimenting with alternative hurricane forecasting tools.

The latestbatch of documentshas revealed Epstein's network of friends and associates reach beyond his Caribbean island and East Coast circles into the gilded palaces of two of Europe'sroyal familiesand touch some of the highest offices of foreign governments.

More:Who is in the latest Epstein files release? Documents reveal new names

While inclusion in the files does not indicate a person is a criminal suspect, it does, in some cases, show a person had social or business connections. Several people in European power circles are facing inquiries or investigations, while others have stepped down from various professional roles.

What appears to be outdoor furniture is seen in a photo released by US Department of Justice from one of Jeffrey Epstein's properties.

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Epstein's house was filled with odd objects. See the photos.

While Epstein's connections to leaders in business, academia and government have been known for years, the DOJ'sJan. 30 document drophas provided a wider sense of the relationships cultivated by Epstein, who died awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Many maintained contact with him even after his conviction in 2008 for soliciting a prostitute and procuring a child for prostitution in Florida. His plea required him to register as a sex offender in 2009.

UK government under fire over Epstein emails

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing calls to step down, including from some within his own party, in connection with the Epstein files after he appointed Peter Mandelson, a friend of Epstein, as ambassador to the United States. (Starmer himself is not in any of the released documents.) Details of Mandelson's friendship with the late wealth manager became public after the latest round of documents from the DOJ revealed he'd corresponded with Epstein after he was a registered sex offender in 2009.

A little over a week after the Jan. 30 document dump, two of Starmer's aides have resigned: Communications chief Tim Allan and Starmer's top aide, Morgan McSweeney, who said he took responsibility for advising on the appointment of Mandelson to Britain's top diplomatic role. Mandelson has also resigned from the House of Lords.

British police are investigating Mandelson over allegations of "misconduct in public life" after he was accused of passing market-sensitive information to Epstein when he was business secretary under former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown over a decade ago. Mandelson has denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

Two royal families ensnared in Epstein controversy

Among the most well-known European figures who the documents show to have had yearslong friendships with Epstein are members of two royal families:Norway's Princess Mette-Maritand the United Kingdom'sAndrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the younger brother of King Charles III.

While Mountbatten-Windsor's relationship to Epstein has been known for years, the January document dump was the first time the Norwegian princess's correspondence became publicly available.

More:King Charles' brother Andrew crouches over woman in new Epstein photos

Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his royal titlein October 2025 andpushed out of his vast homeat Royal Lodge after reports of his association with Epstein hit a fever pitch. He wasousted as a senior royalthree years prior. Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a prominent Epstein accuser who died by suicide in 2025, alleged she was sexually abused by the former royal multiple times when she was 17 years old. Mountbatten-Windsor has denied the allegations.

The latest release has only intensified scrutiny of the former prince, with the country's prime ministerurging him to testifyto U.S. lawmakers and forcingPrince William and Princess Kate to speak outabout the controversy after years of silence. Britain's King Charles said in a statement Feb. 9 released by Buckingham Palace that the palace isready to support the policeas they investigate allegations against the king's brother.

Princess Mette-Marit, the Crown Princess of Norway, exchanged dozens of emails with Epstein, some as recently as2014.The emails contradict a 2019 comment from the Royal Palace that she'd broken off contact with Epstein in 2011, according to theNorwegian tabloid VG.

Mette-Marit, wife of the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon, has apologized for maintaining contact with Epstein, saying she displayed poor judgment. In her most recent statement, released Feb. 6, she apologized again, "for the situation that I have put the royal family in, especially the King and Queen."

Norway's prime minister on Feb. 9 said that Mette-Marit and other prominent Norwegians named in the recently released Epstein documents should provide more details about their involvement with Epstein.

Norway opens investigations into ex-leader and diplomats

Norwegian authoritiesannouncedthey are investigating two former ambassadors and a former prime minister over corruption tied to the Epstein files. All were known to have had ties to Epstein, but the new files have provided more details on their relationships and dealings with the late money manager.

The country's economic and environmental crime unit said in a statement on Feb. 9 it had conducted searches at two locations tied to former ambassador Mona Juul and her husband, Terje Rød‑Larsen. The pair is being investigated over charges of aggravated corruption and contribution to aggravated corruption. Authorities had opened a separate corruption investigation into former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland several days prior due to his alleged links to Epstein.

Jagland served as prime minister from 1996 to 1997, and also held top positions as chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and secretary general of the Council of Europe.

The diplomatic couple, Juul and Rød‑Larsen, helped facilitate contacts between the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Israeli government that led to the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords. Juul had been Norway's ambassador to Jordan and Iraq upon the latest Epstein file release, and has stepped down from the position. Rød‑Larsen is a former Deputy Prime Minister.

The files suggest that the couple and their children visited Epstein's island, and were named in a version of his will released in the Epstein documents. The two children stood to inherit $5 million apiece from him, according toReuters.

French and Slovakian officials scrutinized, among others

Jack Lang, a former French culture minister, has stepped down from his role as the head of a cultural center in Paris following allegations he previously had financial ties to Epstein. The allegations have triggered a tax investigation. Lang denies wrongdoing and has described the allegations against him as "baseless."

Lang was the head of the Arab World Institute, an organization that promotes exchanges between France and Arab nations. In a letter to Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, viewed by the AFP news agency, Lang said that he would submit his resignation at the next board meeting of the Arab World Institute. Lang served as France's culture minister between 1981 and 1993. He later served as minister of education.

Miroslav Lajčák, an ally of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and his national security adviser, resigned after it emerged in documents from the Epstein files that he had exchanged text messages with Epstein about women and diplomacy. The texts date from when Lajčák was Slovakia's foreign minister in 2018.

In a statement, Lajčák said he was resigning to avoid causing any political damage to Fico. He denied any wrongdoing. He also condemned Epstein's alleged crimes.

Contributing: Erin Mansfield, USA TODAY; Reuters.

Kathryn Palmer is a politics reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her atkapalmer@usatoday.comand on X @KathrynPlmr. Sign up for her daily politics newsletterhere.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Epstein file revelations spark probes, controversy in Europe

While passport revocations for unpaid child support of more than $2,500 have been permitted under 1996 federal legislation, the State Department had in the past acted only when someone applied to renew their travel document or sought other consular services. In other words, enforcement depended on the person approaching the department for assistance.

Starting soon, however, the department will begin to revoke passports on its own initiative based on data shared with it by the Health and Human Services Department, according to the U.S. officials familiar with the plan. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the change has not yet been publicly announced.

The number of people who could be affected was not immediately clear, but it is believed to be in the thousands. Because of the potentially large universe of those owing child support who currently hold passports, the State Department will make the change in tiers, the officials said.

The first group to be affected will be passport holders who owe more than $100,000 in past-due child support, the officials said. One of the officials said fewer than 500 people meet that threshold and could avoid having their passport revoked if they enter into a payment plan with HHS after being notified of the pending revocation.

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The official acknowledged, though, that if and when the threshold is lowered to a smaller past-due amount, the number of those affected will rise significantly. The official could not say when any further changes would take effect or estimate how many people might then lose their passports.

In an emailed response to the AP's queries about the change, the State Department said it "is reviewing options to enforce long-standing law to prevent those owing substantial amounts of child support from neglecting their legal and moral obligations to their children." It added: "It is simple: deadbeat parents need to pay their child support arrears."

Since the Passport Denial Program began with the 1996 passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, the initiative has taken in nearly $621 million in past-due child support payments, with nine collections of more than $300,000, according to the Office of Child Support Enforcement at the Department of Health and Human Services.

HHS did not respond to questions about how many people are in arrears.

Associated Press writer Ali Swenson contributed to this report.

A U.S. immigration court has terminated the Trump administration's attempt to deport a Tufts University student and pro-Palestinian activist who has been critical of Israel, her lawyers said Monday.

The court terminated the government's removal proceedings on Jan. 29, finding that the government has not met its burden in proving thatRümeysa Öztürk, a Ph.D. student from Turkey studying children's relationship to social media, should be deported, the lawyers said.

The termination was noted Monday in a filing on behalf of Öztürk with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City, where she is challenging her arrest and detention.

"Today, I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that despite the justice system's flaws, my case may give hope to those who have also been wronged by the U.S. government," Öztürk said in a statement Monday. "Though the pain that I and thousands of other women wrongfully imprisoned by ICE have faced cannot be undone, it is heartening to know that some justice can prevail after all."

Immigration officers detained Öztürk in March, and a federal judge ordered her release in May, pending proceedings on the merits of her habeas corpus petition. Terminating removal proceedings "does not moot her habeas case," her lawyers wrote.

Her legal team's filing says the immigration court in question denied a key argument the Trump administration used toupend the immigration statusof multiple students and campus activists critical of Israel amid its war with Hamas militants in Gaza.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson characterized the immigration court decision as "judicial activism" and called Öztürk a "terrorist sympathizer."

"Visas provided to foreign students to live, study, and work, in the United States are a privilege, not a right — no matter what this or any other activist judicial ruling says," the spokesperson said in a statement Monday. "And when you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans, and harass Jews, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country."

Immigration court proceedings are generally not public, and the decision ruling that Öztürk cannot be deported was filed under seal, her lawyers said in their filing. They offered to provide a copy to the appeals court under seal.

Öztürk was arrested March 25 in Somerville, Massachusetts. In supporting her release from an immigrant detention facility,Tufts said in Aprilthat Öztürk had co-authored an opinion piece in the student newspaper criticizing the university's response to the war in Gaza and demanding it divest from ties to Israel.

The Trump administration cited a rarely used provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 that allows the secretary of state to deport noncitizens if it is determined their presence would result in "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States."

In their filing Monday, Öztürk's lawyers, including counsel from the ACLU of Massachusetts, highlighted what they called the "dangers" of the government's interpretation of the act.

"Under the government's view," they wrote, "it could punitively detain any noncitizen in retaliation for her speech for many months, so long as it simultaneously institutes removal proceedings—no matter how unmeritorious—all without any federal court review of the lawfulness of detention at any time."

Defense team member Mahsa Khanbabai said in a statement Monday that the Trump administration "has manipulated immigration laws to silence people who advocate for Palestinian human rights and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza."

Khanbabai added: "I hope that other immigration judges will follow her lead and decline to rubber stamp the president's cruel deportation agenda."

The Department of Justice sued to strike down the ban in November 2025 after it was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September. In a ruling on Feb. 9, U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder preliminarily struck down the law, and upheld another California law that requires federal officers to display their identification while performing their official duties.

The Trump administration hailed the ruling as a win, with Attorney GeneralPam Bondicalling it a "key court victory." The Justice Department argued in the lawsuit that immigration agents "face a real threat of criminal liability from state officials who have made clear their intent to target federal officers and disrupt federal law enforcement activities, including federal immigration enforcement."

"These federal agents are harassed, doxxed, obstructed, and attacked on a regular basis just for doing their jobs. We have no tolerance for it," Bondisaidin her statement on Feb. 9.

Gov. Gavin Newsom also counted the ruling to uphold the identification law as "a clear win for the rule of law," and said "no badge and no name mean no accountability."

After the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal immigration agents (ICE), communities across the U.S. are protesting against Trump's surge of immigration enforcement actions.

Pictured here, Demonstrators gather for a protest calling for the removal of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 30, 2026 in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Protests were held across the United States in response to ICE enforcement activity.

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'ICE Out' protests spark marches, confrontations across US

After the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal immigration agents (ICE), communities across the U.S. areprotestingagainst Trump's surge of immigration enforcement actions.Pictured here, Demonstrators gather for a protest calling for the removal of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 30, 2026 in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Protests were held across the United States in response to ICE enforcement activity.

More:Safety measure? Or intimidation tactic? Masked ICE agents spark the debate

In the ruling, Snyder said that the federal government would likely prove the mask ban to be unconstitutional because it treated state officers differently than federal officers; the law included local law enforcement officers and federal officers but not state officers.

The ruling comes as political tension is heightened over PresidentDonald Trump's surge of immigration enforcement actions in primarily Democrat-led states and cities. Weeks of protests have spread nationally after federal officers fatally shot two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, inMinneapolis, where the administration recently announced the departure of hundreds of immigration enforcement personnel. In videos and photos, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents are routinely seen wearing face coverings while conducting operations, making arrests and clashing with protesters.

Los Angeles has also been atarget for enhanced immigration enforcement, which sparked protests that at times turned violent last summer.

More:White House negotiating with Democrats on DHS reform as deadline nears

Scott Wiener, the state senator who introduced the mask ban, said in a statement that he will introduce new legislation to include state officers, and said the ruling demonstrates that California has the right to block officers from covering their faces if state officers are included.

"Today's federal court ruling is a huge win: The Court ruled that California has the power to protect our community by banning officers, including federal agents, from wearing masks and thus inflicting terror and shielding themselves from accountability," Wiener, a Democrat whose area of representation includes San Francisco, said.

"ICE and Border Patrol are covering their faces to maximize their terror campaign and to insulate themselves from accountability. We won't let them get away with it," Wienersaid.

Contributing: Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Judge blocks California mask ban for federal agents