Cold Storm Bringing Snowfall To Southern California Mountains
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Snow capped the peaks of Southern California's mountains and glistened on forests Thursday after an unusually early winter-like storm that hit just days after a heat wave.
Plows cleared roads and chains were required on most vehicles for travel on much of vital state Route 18 in the San Bernardino Mountains, where the National Weather Service reported Green Valley Lake received a half foot of snow.
The Snow Summit ski area at Big Bear Lake reported on its website that 2 to 4 inches of snow fell overnight, but it cautioned enthusiastic skiers and snowboarders that the resort did not anticipate opening early for the season, which usually begins sometime in November.
Temperatures were already warming, the website noted.
The storm that swept through Wednesday and early Thursday brought less than 0.1 inch of rain to most locations around Southern California, but the weather service reported some areas received more than an inch.
The low-pressure system that sagged down the California coast, bringing cold air and precipitation, marked a turnabout from recent baking heat spawned by a Santa Ana wind condition.
Wednesday's high in downtown Los Angeles was 29 degrees less than Sunday's maximum of 93. The average high temperature in October is 79 degrees.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
