A sprinkling of Southern California residents woke up to a blanket of snow Wednesday morning, Feb. 23, after a storm brought unusually cold temperatures into the region.
Snow fell at unusually low elevations but didn’t stick around for long in those spots — as low as 1,700 feet near Hemet, and 2,600 feet in Yucaipa — said Philip Gonsalves, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
Higher elevations in the San Bernardino mountains picked up more, with up to 9 inches at Snow Summit at 7,000 feet, and up to 8 inches in Big Bear City. Crestline collected as much as 5.5 inches.
“This is a very cold storm — it’s unusually cold even for this time of year,” Gonsalves said. “It’s pretty rare when we report snowfall below 4,000 feet, so events like this happen once every few years.”
In Los Angeles County, mountains received 1 to 3 inches of snow, mostly above 3,000 feet. Some higher elevations saw up to 5 inches, said David Sweet, also a National Weather Service meteorologist.
Motorists in mountain areas were asked to avoid travel if possible, and to deploy chains if driving is necessary, Caltrans said.
The 5 Freeway through the Grapevine was closed Wednesday morning because of snow and ice, the California Highway Patrol said, with workers trying to clear the roads for traffic.
Other areas across the region saw light showers, with coastal areas seeing about 1/10th of an inch of rain and the foothills getting up to a half-inch.
Most of the precipitation in Los Angeles County was dwindling down by late Wednesday morning, with potentially more light showers throughout the day in Orange County and the Inland Empire, meteorologists said.
Forecasts, though, show cold temperatures will linger.
“There will be temperatures in the 20s in the Inland Empire, probably some temperatures in the 30s in the low elevations of Orange County,” Gonsalves said. “Climatology speaking, it’s an anomaly, it’s unusual even for this time of year.”
Temperatures will rise, and fair weather start to slowly come back, over the weekend, Gonsalves said.
Got a dusting of snow in Mentone this morning! pic.twitter.com/VBna1g32W2
— Joe Nelson (@GumshoeJoe) February 23, 2022
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