SOUTHLAND – (INT) – With only three weeks remaining, winter is on its worst behavior. Back-to-back storms are delivering bone-chilling wind and the potential for drought-busting rain and snow.

Throughout California, more than 80,000 utility customers were without power at one point Friday, according to PowerOutage.us.

The weather service in San Diego issued blizzard warnings for the San Bernardino mountains, in a first for the office.
Blizzard warnings were also in effect for mountains in Los Angeles and Ventura counties for the first time since 1989, the National Weather Service said.

The storm slid from northern California into the Southland Friday bringing heavy rain, low elevation snow and high winds. Before it’s over, Southern California may receive up to seven inches of rain.

Cold air is rushing in with this storm system, leading to chilly morning low temperatures this weekend.

Either snow or graupel — which is a fragile type of frozen precipitation also called soft hail — fell on Mount Lee in Los Angeles, where the Hollywood sign is, the weather service said after having examined video.

Drivers were also briefly stranded on the San Marcos Pass on Highway 154 near Santa Barbara, a Santa Barbara County fire spokesman said. Plows cleared the way, but intermittent closures were possible in the future.

Travel is discouraged in the San Bernardino Mountains. Ice and snow brought down power lines shutting down a stretch of Highway 18.

As the storm moved south out of Northern California, it left some surreal scenes, including snow on the beaches of Santa Cruz, on the Napa Valley floor and topping many San Francisco Bay Area peaks.

There was even enough snow in the Berkeley Hills to ski

Track the storm: https://radar.weather.gov/station/KSOX/standard

Story Date: February 25, 2023