Storm Fails to Put Dent in Drought : Weather: Southland starts to warm up. There was enough snow to close resort roads, but not enough rain to reach normal levels.

Southern California’s rainy big chill eased Monday, but the brisk holiday weekend storm that dropped more than two inches of rain and up to six feet of snow in local mountains did little to bring an end to the state’s lengthy drought.

Chill winds kept the high temperature at Los Angeles Civic Center to 59 degrees Monday, 10 degrees below normal but markedly warmer than Sunday’s rain-doused 55 degrees. At WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, meteorologist Bill Hibbert said conditions will grow gradually warmer and the routine coastal cloudiness will resume by Friday.

Overall, the storm dropped 2.51 inches of rain at Civic Center, bringing the season total to 5.43 inches--below both last season’s mark of 7.22 inches and the normal rainfall by this time of 10.21 inches.

“It’s going to take several more of these to do any drought-breaking,” Hibbert said.

The long-range forecast offers little optimism. A 60-day outlook by the National Weather Service predicted that rainfall would be marginally above normal on the West Coast. But Southern California, sitting at the lower edge of the “above normal” band, is less likely than the north to get that rain, Hibbert said.

For the next five days, temperatures are likely to return to the 60s during the day, but the nights will remain chilly, the meteorologist said.

The storm dumped up to six feet of snow on local ski resorts just in time for the holiday weekend, but it proved to be too much snow. Highways were closed to all but residents; would-be skiers and the resorts hoping for their business were forced apart by snow-clogged roads.

“Unfortunately, it was not much of anything,” said Margaret Krajewski of the Snow Valley ski resort. Snow Valley, as well as other major sites, were forced to shut down Sunday and Monday.

“We’re very hopeful that it will be open tomorrow,” she said. “Another big weekend and here we are.”

Krajewski said the three-day storm dumped almost double the amount of snow seen during most substantial storms.

The storm’s impact on other local roadways eased Monday, just in time for those vacationers who made it to their holiday destinations to start the long drive home.

A 40-mile stretch of Interstate 5, from Castaic to Kern County’s Wheeler Ridge, reopened at 8 a.m. Monday, after being closed for 14 hours because of ice and snow.

The closure came after a snowstorm degenerated into “whiteout” conditions, cutting visibility to as little as 50 feet, said California Highway Patrol Sgt. Scott Jones of Newhall.

During the closure, the CHP escorted caravans of 200 to 300 cars over the freeway about once an hour. Some drivers had to wait two hours before a CHP patrol scouting the roads declared that it was safe enough for a caravan to travel through, the officer said.

Trucks were banned from the road “because they have a tendency to get stuck the fastest,” Jones said.

About 40 cars and trucks were stuck on I-5 before the CHP closed the roadway Sunday evening, and they remained stranded for three hours until state highway workers sanded the roads, Jones said. Two trucks jackknifed and some vehicles slipped backward on ice-covered roads before the closure, but no injuries were reported.

In Northern California, temperatures were still frigid and, in Reno, officials were still battling to dig out from the second-strongest storm recorded this century.

Oakland reported a record low of 39 degrees Monday, five degrees below the figure set in 1983. Nearby Alameda also recorded a 39, tying a 41-year low.

In Reno, however, residents awoke to a shivering 6 below zero--which obliterated the previous mark of 7 above zero that was set in 1903.

The storm that coursed across Northern California and Nevada dumped 21 inches of snow on the city’s streets--slightly less than a monster storm that dumped more than 22 inches of snow on Reno in 1916--and more than six feet elsewhere in the Sierra.

Most of Interstate 80 was open at midday, a day after a mudslide blocked the main artery between Sacramento and the Nevada ski resorts. The slide sent mud over all four lanes at depths up to 12 feet in places, and forced the closure of a 77-mile stretch of road.

The eastbound lanes had reopened Sunday night, and one westbound lane was cleared for traffic at 2 p.m. Monday.

City Manager Hal Schilling said city workers and local construction crews brought in to aid the workers continued to shovel around the clock to make streets passable.

The southern branch of the storm which left Southern California Sunday night dumped snow on Arizona as it made its way east. Up to two feet of snow was reported in southern mountains overnight, and the Arizona Department of Public Safety was forced to close a 200-mile stretch of Interstate 40 across the middle of the state because of heavy snow.

THE RAIN Storm total: 2.51 in. Monthly total: 3.12 in. Total for season: 5.43 in. Last season to date: 7.22 in. Normal season to date: 10.21 in. Figures, based on 4 p.m. readings at the Los Angeles Civic Center, are compiled by the National Weather Service, which provides no later data.