Flurries at Beach Cities a Rare Event

It was snowing in Surf City this morning.

Some light flakes, spawned by a frigid upper-level storm system, also drifted onto neighboring Seal Beach. Weather forecasters said the snow will end today--the first day of winter--but the cold will continue and become even colder over the weekend.

The unusual snow in the Seal Beach-Huntington Beach area was very light, very scattered and did not stick. But the sight of the tiny flakes blowing in the cold ocean wind caused excitement and wonder.

Civic Center workers in Huntington Beach exchanged snow stories.

Children ran outside their homes and cheered, according to one resident in the northern section of this city of 180,000.

Snow flurries were also reported this morning in Costa Mesa and along the Ortega Highway at elevations of 1,800 feet.

The rare event for the beach cities was all the more remarkable, observers said, because Huntington Beach, a historic surfing mecca, usually advertises itself as a balmy, sun-drenched coastal resort.

But instead of sun-tanned bodies on the beach, city lifeguards this morning were reporting a light frosting of snowflakes on cars and streets near the city’s famed pier.

“I was down at the Grinder (on Pacific Coast Highway) having breakfast this morning, and when I came out, I thought someone was having a dandruff problem,” said Kai Weisser, 31, a marine safety officer.

“There was snow on the ground. It was a very small amount, but it was definitely snow. This was about quarter after nine this morning. I’ve lived here since I was 4 years old, and I couldn’t believe it. I’ve seen hail here before, but never snow.”

Snow was seen in Seal Beach between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m.

“I walked outside, and I have a dark sweater on and there were a bunch of white things on it,” said Kerry Kyle, a receptionist at Seal Beach City Hall.

“There were little white snowflakes out there,” said Suzi Henricks, a waitress at Ruby’s on the end of the Seal Beach pier.

The light snow came as an upper-atmosphere low pressure system continued to buffet Southern California with unusually cold weather.

Rick Dittmann, a meteorologist with WeatherData, Inc., which provides weather information for The Times, said this morning that the upper-atmosphere system has been circulating frigid air from Canada and the Arctic southward into Southern California for the past two days. He said the cold weather is predicted to continue for the next two days and will likely get even colder as clouds dissipate. But he said he sees little chance for more precipitation, including snow, except in the mountain areas of the state.

“This is a pretty cold situation we’re having, so I’m not surprised that snow turned up in some weird spot like Huntington Beach,” Dittmann said. “There’s also been some snow today in Ontario.”

Dittmann noted that clouds have been hovering over Orange County and that those clouds have helped keep ground heat from dissipating. But Dittmann said the forecast calls for the clouds to move out. This will mean colder temperatures this weekend, perhaps in the teens or low 20s in some areas.