S.D. Mountains Hit by Blizzard-Like Gusty Winds, Snow

A Gulf of Alaska-spawned storm swept into San Diego County on Saturday, bringing near-blizzard conditions to the mountains and gusty winds that knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses.

Atop Mt. Laguna, winds gusted to 30 m.p.h., 3 inches of snow fell by 4 p.m. and the temperature dipped to 25 degrees said Frank Perdue, a National Weather Service forecaster. Strong winds were also recorded at Mt. Palomar, where 2 inches of snow had fallen by 4 p.m.

Elsewhere in the county, the winds, with gusts as strong as 45 m.p.h., downed or damaged many power lines, causing power outages from La Jolla to Oceanside, said Becky Obayashi, a San Diego Gas & Electric spokeswoman.

Most of the outages occurred about noon, she said, and power to nearly all the areas was restored by 5 p.m. Outages were reported in the Morena Boulevard area, east of Mission Bay; in Southeast San Diego; on Prospect Avenue in La Jolla; Lakeside area, and parts Oceanside near El Camino Real.

Tugboat Sinks

In the icy waters off Northern California, six crewmen were missing and feared drowned after their tugboat apparently sank in rough seas.

Coast Guard spokesman Brad Terrill said the Willamette Pilot III radioed a Mayday call at 12:30 a.m. Saturday and reported that the tug was listing heavily in the stern and taking in water 50 miles west of Point Arena. The six crew members reported they were donning survival suits and preparing to board a life raft when radio contact was broken, he said.

One body was spotted by search crews in the area where the boat went down, but high seas prevented it from being recovered, the Coast Guard said.

Water temperature was reported to be 50 degrees in 30-foot seas in the area where the tug is thought to have gone down. The swells were being rocked by 40-knot winds, the Coast Guard said.

Travelers’ advisories were in effect Saturday for the mountain and desert areas of San Diego County, but those warnings were expected to be lifted by this morning. The California Highway Patrol reported numerous minor collisions caused by the inclement weather, but no one was seriously injured.

The upper-level air mass was so cold and unstable, Perdue said, that it created a bizarre condition where San Diego was flanked to the east by a low pressure system and to the west by a high pressure system, creating the strong winds.

“The storm retained its cold features but had very little moisture because it traveled mostly over land to get here,” Perdue said.

Hail Reported

Hail was reported in several spots in the county including Lindbergh Field. Precipitation measured at Lindbergh Field through 9:30 p.m. was 0.13 of an inch. The season total for precipitation is 8.8 inches of rain.

Because the low pressure system is moving east, Perdue said, the winds should dissipate today, but skies will remain mostly cloudy. Temperatures today in the coastal and inlands areas will be in the 57-to-62 degree range. Nighttime temperatures at the coast will be about 48 degrees with inland lows about 43.

At the mountains and deserts there will be a chance of thundershowers today. Temperatures in the mountains, where the snow level has dropped to 3,500 feet, will be about 35 degrees today with nighttime temperatures about 20.

Deserts will continue to have gusty winds with daytime temperatures about 64 degrees and nighttime temperatures about 44.

Power Outages Reported

In other parts of Southern California, about 8,000 Los Angeles residents were without power at one time or another Saturday, a Department of Water and Power spokesman said. Most of the power outages were caused by fallen tree limbs and power lines blown together by high winds.

“As soon as we restore power to some customers we get reports of fallen lines somewhere else,” said DWP spokesman Elizabeth Wimmer.

A radio station in the desert town of Coachella south of Palm Springs lost its 252-foot transmitting tower to a 50-m.p.h. gust of wind. Spanish-language station KVIM-AM was knocked off the air for an hour. It had only one-fifth its normal 5,000-watt power when it resumed operation using a sister station’s antenna, a station spokesman said.

And the Huntington Beach Public Library closed early Saturday after lightning struck a transformer and knocked out power at about noon. Library director Walter Johnson said the repairs might take until Tuesday.

Traffic on several foothill highways was slowed as snow and slush dropped to the 3,500-foot level. Mt. Baldy Road was closed at Shinn Road after 75 cars were stuck in the snow.

A blizzard on Interstate 5, the state’s major north-south highway, slowed traffic to a crawl in the area of Gorman. And cars were also slowed by snow on the Antelope Valley Freeway.

A small-craft advisory was posted along the coast because of 12-foot swells and high winds.

Also contributing are Times staff writers James Rainey and H.G. Reza