Orange County Death : Snow Falls in Wide Area as Mercury Dips

Arctic air continued to assault Southern California on Sunday, bringing reports of snowfall in low-lying areas from Riverside to Orange County, keeping high temperatures at record or near-record low levels and prompting officials to issue freeze warnings for some agricultural areas.

Orange County officials said Sunday that the death of a man believed to have been a transient may have been caused by exposure to the cold weekend weather, and there were reports of snow falling in Rancho Santa Margarita and Trabuco Canyon, although it dissolved as it touched the ground.

Orange County Supervising Deputy Coroner Rick Plows said the body was found early Saturday morning near the Slater Avenue overpass of the San Diego Freeway in Fountain Valley. The victim, who carried no identification, was pronounced dead at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center and may be “a possible hypothermia death,” Plows said.

The man was described as a white male 5-feet, 9 inches tall, 124 pounds, about 60 years old, with a 3- or 4-day growth of beard, black-gray hair, hazel eyes and a tattoo spelling “Jeef” in a heart on his upper right arm. He was wearing light-blue jeans, a light-blue, long-sleeve shirt, a dark-blue-and-tan, long-sleeve sweater and yellow-and-brown rosary beads with a white cross around his neck.

“Our examination today revealed that he has had a stroke in the past,” Plows said. Anyone with information about the victim is asked to contact the sheriff-coroner’s office at (714) 647-7400.

Sunday’s high in Santa Ana reached 55 degrees, after a low of 39 Saturday night, said meteorologist Rick Dittmann of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts to The Times.

The forecast for today and Tuesday is mostly clear skies and cool temperatures, with daytime temperatures in the 50s and upper 40s, Dittmann said. Winds are expected to gust up to 30 m.p.h. below the canyons, and nights will be very cold, especially in wind-protected areas, he said.

California Highway Patrol dispatcher Janelle Clem said there were reports of snow “in Trabuco Canyon, Rancho Santa Margarita, a bunch of places.”

“But it’s not sticking,” she said. “Maybe tomorrow.”

At the Los Angeles Civic Center, a peak reading of 53 degrees was recorded, just 1 degree warmer than the coldest high for the date, recorded in 1909. The mercury at UC Riverside reached just 47, shattering the old low maximum of 51 degrees set in 1949.

Snow showers were reported Sunday in the San Bernardino Valley, and snow stuck to the ground for a time near Rancho Cucamonga, the National Weather Service said.

Temperatures in Mid-20s

March Air Force Base, near Riverside, reported snow showers at 1,500 feet. Temperatures were expected to drop into the mid-20s this morning and Tuesday, prompting the weather service to issue a frost advisory for inland valleys.

Cold air moved into San Diego County, with the weather service saying the coldest inland areas will drop to the upper 20s. Agricultural interests in those areas were alerted to take measures to protect crops from frost.

Tonight will be even colder, the weather service said, as lows drop to the low and middle 20s. The frost advisory will remain in effect.

In Northern California, light snow covered the higher hills of the Bay Area on Sunday after overnight temperatures dipped below freezing.