A brutal snow storm has unloaded around several metres of snow across the state of California.

A state of emergency was issued across 13 counties as residents were trapped inside their homes with over 100 rescues carried out so far, with snow piled high above windows.

People have seen trees tear through their houses or their roofs collapse under the weight of the snow. Over 70,000 homes and businesses were also out of power.

While snow over the California hills is not uncommon, this late-February storm brought rare low-elevation settling of around 5 cm to parts of southern California, alongside blizzard conditions and howling winds.

Yosemite National Park has been closed indefinitely after record-breaking snowfall over 4.5 metres. While the likes of China Peak near Huntington Lake received over 3.5 metres of snow.

This particular snow storm has been dubbed a "once in a generation" event, while this year has been one of the snowiest on record for the state.

After a brief recent respite in snow falling since the start of March, further rounds of snow are expected over the weekend and into next week.