Heavy snow covered the Northern California mountains and rain and wind hit the US West Coast as a third day of winter storms left at least three people dead and hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in California, Oregon and Washington without power.

Japan’s fourth avalanche in two days buried three mountain climbers on a remote, icy peak today, as the country struggles through one of its snowiest winters on record.

The worst day in California's power crisis has partly been blamed on a warm snap.