Brisk Weather Cools Southland’s Spring

If you’re looking for brisk, autumn days this spring weekend, L.A.’s the place.

A fairly strong upper-level storm system, moving south through Central California, will lower snow levels to 4,000 feet in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains and keep weekend temperatures on the cool side, said Dave Beusterien, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

“There won’t be too much of a warming trend--at least not for Saturday,” Beusterien said.

The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory Thursday for the mountains and deserts, and a snow advisory for the mountains.

The storm system brought winds with gusts to 51 m.p.h. Thursday to the Imperial Valley and up to 37 m.p.h. to the Los Angeles area.

“This is a very cold storm for this time of year,” the weather service said, adding that moisture associated with the storm is limited, with no more than 2 to 4 inches of snow expected. Snow was reported in the Tehachapis and rain fell in the San Gabriel Valley on Thursday afternoon as the system moved in.

Any rainfall will be generally less than half an inch. The storm will move east today, but continued low pressure will keep the weather unsettled with cloudy, breezy and cool conditions through Saturday.

High temperatures throughout the Los Angeles Basin today and Saturday will be in the mid- to upper 60s, with overnight lows in the low to mid-50s. Thursday’s Civic Center high was 61.

Sundays highs will be only slightly warmer--upper 60s to low 70s--but the lows will be about the same as Saturday’s.