More rain? Storm brings mudflows, rock slides, a blizzard to Southern California
Rams fans won’t have Southern California’s blue skies and sunshine to comfort them after the team’s 13-3 Super Bowl loss to New England on Sunday.
Scattered showers and snow in the mountains are expected throughout the Southland through Tuesday night as back-to-back cold troughs of low pressure move over the area, according to the National Weather Service.
Rams far from super in 13-3 loss to Patriots »
By noon, the heaviest rains had passed through Ventura and Los Angeles counties and a flash flood warning issued from Thousand Oaks and Agoura Hills to Pacific Coast Highway had been lifted.
PCH was closed for several hours in both directions from Broad Beach Road to Las Posas Road in Ventura County because of debris flowing into the roadway, according to the city of Malibu. The road reopened about 1:30 p.m.
Half an inch to 1 inch of rain was expected across the coasts and valleys, while 2 to 3 inches were predicted along the southern slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains, forecasters said.
Magic Mountain in Valencia closed at 2 p.m. because of the rain.
The weather service issued a winter storm warning for the Los Angeles and Ventura County mountains through Wednesday, with more than a foot of snow forecast above 7,000 feet and 2 to 4 inches expected above 4,500 feet.
Snowfall could affect the 5 Freeway along the Grapevine area of the Tejon Pass and Highway 14 in the Antelope Valley, meteorologists said.
Snow levels were expected to range from 4,500 to 5,500 feet Monday before dropping to a level of 3,000 to 3,500 feet that night into Tuesday, according to the weather service. The local snow level could be as low as 2,500 feet, with some snowfall along the Antelope Valley foothills Tuesday morning.
Several ski resorts in the Eastern Sierra and Tahoe — including June Mountain in June Lake and Mammoth Mountain in Mammoth Lakes — closed part or all of their operations Monday because of a blizzard that dropped as much as 9 feet of snow.
In Northern California, westbound traffic on Interstate 80 was being turned around at the border with Nevada due to whiteout conditions at Donner Summit, according to the California Department of Transportation. Eastbound traffic was being turned around at Applegate in Placer County. Caltrans said there was no estimated time for the interstate’s reopening.
Topanga Canyon Boulevard remained closed due to a mudslide. Northbound traffic on the 5 Freeway in Boyle Heights was stopped around 6 a.m. because of a rock slide but reopened around 7:30 a.m.
Westbound traffic on the 210 was stopped early Monday after a van hit the center median. The two right lanes were open, but the carpool lanes and two left lanes remained closed longer while crews cleaned up a fuel spill from the crash, according to Caltrans.
On Highway 1 near Big Sur’s slide areas, the road was set to remain closed through at least Tuesday because of rainstorms, Caltrans announced.
A rock slide also closed Highway 150 between Ojai and Santa Paula, Caltrans said.
The outlook improves for Southern California after Tuesday.
“We should get some sun back Wednesday and Thursday,” said Bonnie Bartling, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
But she said a new storm could arrive over the weekend.
Friday was expected to be partly cloudy, the weather service forecast, and there was a 40% chance of rain Saturday and a 20% chance of rain that night.
Twitter: @jpanzar
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
