Roads were flooded throughout Southern California and thousands of people lost power Saturday as an intense storm stranded some drivers on mountain roads amidst heavy snow, ice and rain.
The National Weather Service called the storm one of the strongest ever to hit the region.
“Areas in the Inland Empire near Fontana, Rialto, and Devore have now picked up more snow this winter than New York City and Philadelphia,” the NWS tweeted shortly after 4 p.m. “Y’all can have it back now …”
The storm and threat of blizzard conditions were expected to taper off Saturday evening, and Sunday will be relatively dry and cool in Los Angeles county, according to NWS meteorologist Rich Thompson. While the storm wraps up, however, there’s still a potential for thunderstorms into Saturday night, as well as landspouts, which unlike regular tornadoes form from the ground up and have weaker winds.
Pea-sized hail may also be seen in the evening hours.
San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys were issued a winter weather advisory until 11:00 p.m., Thompson said. He said a dusting of snow was possible in the valleys and in foothill communities
“It wouldn’t be shocking to see snow or slurries down to 1,000 feet in the valleys,” he said.
The 5 Freeway at the Grapevine and Highway 14 were closed Saturday because of heavy snowfall and ice, making for dangerous conditions in the Southern California mountains. Highway 14 later reopened with CHP escorts. The Grapevine reopened Sunday.
The Grapevine is now open with CHP units from the Fort Tejon and Newhall areas conducting escorts up and over the Grapevine. The roadway is still wet and slick, so stay in line and follow behind traffic at a safe distance. Please don’t drive reckless by speeding. pic.twitter.com/rmnb9WMtAz
— CHP Fort Tejon (@CHPFortTejon) February 26, 2023
The combination of heavy and blowing snow, low visibility and strong gusty south winds created blizzard conditions in the mountains on Saturday, the NWS said.
Snow even made a rare appearance in a number of towns, including Redlands, Claremont, San Bernardino, Rancho Cucamonga and Upland.
Heavy #snow falls at approximately the 1400-1700 foot level in #Fontana and #RanchoCucamonga Saturday morning. #southerncalifornia #weather pic.twitter.com/3HCDJTcuum
— Will Lester (@WillLesterPhoto) February 25, 2023
The pitter patter stopped, I looked out the window and …. snow?!?? pic.twitter.com/fa77z77KD4
— Jessica Keating (@keating_edits) February 25, 2023
By early Saturday afternoon, Los Angeles County lifeguards tweeted that beaches from Cabrillo to Dockweiler were closed after an initial lightning strike at about 12:20 p.m. They expanded the closures to all LA County beaches before they were lifted.
And then hail hit Dana Point.
TV footage across the region late Friday and early Saturday showed downed trees, cars submerged in flooded streets, water rescues and Caltrans crews working through the night and early morning to clear roads. All roads heading to and from Big Bear were reported closed. Some people were tweeting to Caltrans that they had been stuck on mountain roads for 15 hours.
Flooding swamped the 5 Freeway in Sun Valley, where cars were submerged. Traffic was held up in the southbound lanes of the 5 near Main Street in Santa Ana while crews there worked to clear water.
❄️WEATHER-RELATED CLOSURES🌧️
As of 8:30 AM, highways are being FULLY CLOSED at various locations due to snow or flooding. Limit your non-essential travel and stay home if possible! See 👇 for list of current highway closures in District 7. Photos are of snow on SR-14. pic.twitter.com/0AMWEjlSNh
— Caltrans District 7 (@CaltransDist7) February 25, 2023
Three motorhomes were swept into the Santa Clara River early Saturday when an embankment collapsed in an RV motorhome park in Valencia.
A massive old tree fell in our neighborhood last night. Let’s hope no one was hurt in #LARain pic.twitter.com/oxQqvOZTEi
— Frank Girardot (@FrankGirardot) February 25, 2023
Firefighters hoisted a 61-year-old man to safety from a dirt island in the Tujunga wash in Sunland on Saturday morning. The rescue occurred at 7:10 a.m. after a night of heavy rain and winds. The man told firefighters he was driving his van when it was hit by a falling tree. He was taken to a hospital, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said.
In Jurupa Valley, Cal Fire/Riverside County firefighters conducted three water rescues, including a man who became stranded in the Santa Ana riverbed near Market Street and Via Cerró.
These are our Snow Blowers on SR-330 at Upper Passing Lane and SR-18 by Big Bear Dam. We are using machines like this to help clear roadways. Crews have been working through the night, so please be patient while we get those roadways reopened. #Caltrans8 pic.twitter.com/1X9rkViBjN
— Caltrans District 8 (@Caltrans8) February 25, 2023
Some spots managed to escape the drama.
In Orange County, a voluntary evacuation order was lifted for Silverado Canyon and Williams Canyon in the Bond Fire burn area as of 7 a.m.
And officials said Duarte experienced very little impact in the Fish Fire area, with only minor muddy water buildup behind some k-rails.
But some 20,000 people were without power throughout Southern California Saturday morning as crews rushed to clear downed wires and trees.
Southern California Edison did not have an estimated response time for outages on Saturday. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said outages could take up to 12 hours to address.
“Our crews worked through pouring rain & wind overnight to restore power,” the LADWP tweeted at 12:33 p.m. Saturday. “At 10 a.m. this morning, 52,000 customers had been restored, while 66,500 remained without power out of LADWP’s 1.5 million customers.”
Up at 5,000 feet, the weekend storm brought a healthy dusting to Lake Arrowhead, which was snowed in Saturday.
Ginny Dunn, who’s lived in Lake Arrowhead for three decades, stood surrounded by the snow, marveling at it.
“This is the most magnificent storm in the 31 years I’ve been here,” she said. “I have never seen North Bay (Road) this snowy. You can’t travel on it.”
With the road closed to cars, Dunn simply traveled on skis.
“I have my cross-country skis,” she said. “Today is optimal, although I’m having to blaze my own trail.”
There weren’t any record-breaking low temperatures, but Sunday will likely be colder than Saturday, Thompson said. The San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys should see lows of 34-44 degrees Sunday, in contrast to the slightly warmer lows of 38-44 degrees Saturday.
In four-day rainfall totals for Los Angeles County, Woodland Hills took the lead at almost 11 inches, according to Thompson. Pasadena wasn’t far behind at 7 inches of rain, while coastal Los Angeles cities hovered around 2-6 inches of precipitation.
As for snow in that period, Mountain High received 81 inches, Mount Wilson, 35 inches, Mount Baldy, 37 inches, Wrightwood, 32 inches, and Yucaipa Ridge, 19 inches.
And some rainfall and temperature records seemed poised to be broken on Saturday. NWS meteorologist Adam Roser said preliminarily, a 1917 record for a low-high temperature was likely to be smashed in Santa Ana, where the warmest temperature on Saturday was 53 degrees.
The same was likely to be true for Riverside and Lake Elsinore, which only got up to 51 and 49 degrees, respectively. For those cities, the previous low-high temperature records were from 2001.
Roser said some rainfall records would also be set by Saturday’s showers. Anaheim and Santa Ana clocked in just over 2 inches of rain, more than records set in 2003 and 1969, respectively. Newport Beach had 2 inches of rain as of early Saturday evening, appearing to break another 1969 record
Another, albeit milder, storm system is expected to move in on Monday and stick around until Wednesday, Thompson said.
Mission Viejo resident Jeanne Juricka thought she traded in snow for the sun when she came to Southern California from Chicago 23 years ago. But on Saturday morning, between heavy showers, Juricka caught a glimpse of a snowy Saddleback Mountain.
Juricka and her husband quickly snapped some photos of the snowcapped peaks and foothills before they quickly disappeared under rain clouds.
“Everything was completely white,” Juricka said. “It was the most gorgeous, beautiful view. And it was perfect timing because everything is clouded up again.”
Latest situation for SR-14. https://t.co/YfSUmJ06vJ
— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) February 25, 2023
It’s hailing like crazy here in Dana Point. Here’s the view from right outside my office. ❄️🌧 @ocregister @SoCalNewsGroup pic.twitter.com/YqQY6qj9M0
— hanna lykke (she/her) حنا (@hannalykke) February 25, 2023
Staff writer Nelson Espinal and City News Service contributed to this report.
Blizzard conditions, wet and freezing weather set in across Southern California
