It’s White March--Many Areas Get Snow : Weather: Sierra snowpack rises from 53% to 75% of normal in just a week. Storm kills motorist, fells giant redwood.

An unusually prolific spring storm continued to dump large amounts of snow from one end of the state to the other Tuesday, with as much as eight feet reported in some Sierra resorts since Saturday and quite a bit falling at lower altitudes in Southern California.

Not only was the snowfall much greater than usual for the end of March, but the storm remained violent. It spawned a tornado at Vandenberg Air Force Base, toppled one of the world’s tallest redwoods near Eureka and sent an oak tree crashing through the windshield of a car in San Joaquin County, killing the driver.

Snow survey officials of the state Department of Water Resources said that by the time the storm leaves the state sometime today, they expect the average snowpack in the Sierra and Cascades to rise to 75% of normal for this time of year. It was 53% of normal just last week.

Bill Mork, staff meteorologist for the department, said that in some areas of the Central Coast region and the southern Sierra, March rainfall has reached three or four times the normal amount. After months of dry conditions, Mork said it has pushed such communities as Santa Maria, Paso Robles, Fresno and Bakersfield above annual norms.

Also above its annual norm is San Diego, where 0.91 of an inch of rain fell in the 24-hour period ending at 3 p.m. Tuesday, bringing total seasonal rainfall to 10.64 inches. Rainfall at the Los Angeles Civic Center, with just 0.25 of an inch in the period, stands at 11.11 inches, more than three inches below the annual norm.

The town of Chico in the Sacramento Valley reported 11.12 inches of rain so far in March, a record for the month.

In several towns near Southland mountains, including Riverside, Fontana, Hemet, Temecula, Banning and Beaumont, some of the precipitation came in the form of snow. It briefly covered Interstate 10, the main route to the desert resorts of the Coachella Valley, in the San Gorgonio Pass.

Snow flurries were reported Tuesday afternoon in Monrovia in the San Gabriel Valley.

During the afternoon, weather authorities reported that a particularly turbulent cell of thunderstorms, hail and heavy rain moved from the Lompoc area east through Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

It was from this cell that, about 12:45 p.m., a tornado touched down on the golf course at Vandenberg. It uprooted trees and blew a shed to pieces but caused no injuries. Later, funnel clouds were reported in Merced County in the Central Valley and a tornado warning was issued, the second in two days.

Tornado-like winds swept into Huntington Beach from the ocean about 10:30 p. m., damaging about 20 carports in the Driftwood Mobile Home Park near Pacific Coast Highway and Beach Boulevard but causing no serious injuries, Huntington Beach firefighters said.

The winds and heavy rain moved northeasterly from the mobile homes and apparently tore off roofs on a few streets near by. The area was without power, the streets heavily flooded and traffic signals were out.

The immense redwood was felled along the Avenue of Giants in Humboldt Redwood State Park near Eureka. Park Supt. Don Hoyle said the Dyerville tree fell during the storm when it was struck by another falling redwood.

The Guinness Book of World Records lists the Dyerville tree as the world’s tallest at 362 feet, but this is disputed, with at least two nearby trees said by park authorities to be taller.

Hoyle said park workers measured the fallen tree on the ground and it was more than 370 feet long. It had been estimated at between 1,200 and 1,600 years old and had a circumference of 52 feet.

Despite such spectacular events, meteorologists considered the storm more unusual for the heavy snow it brought to the Sierra. Since Saturday, they reported that between five and eight feet had fallen from the Feather River in the north to the Stanislaus River in the south, and that almost as heavy falls had been reported south almost to Kernville.

Forecasts called for up to three feet of new snow by midday today in the Southern California mountains.

Near Wrightwood, rescuers Tuesday evening freed the driver of a snow-grooming Snowcat that toppled and was nearly buried in deep snow at the Mountain High ski resort.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Greg Collins said members of the department’s search and rescue team and ski patrol members worked in treacherous conditions to reach the trapped driver.

In Sherman Oaks, a man fleeing shopping mall guards after they spotted him trying to steal a car leaped into the rain-swollen Los Angeles River on Tuesday evening and disappeared. Los Angeles Fire Department officials called off the search at about 7:30 p.m., 1 1/2 hours after the man jumped into the river near Woodman Avenue.

THE RAIN 24-hour total: 0.25 in. Storm total: 0.95 in. Monthly total: 6.41 in. Total for season: 11.11 in. Last season to date: 5.60 in. Normal season to date: 13.12 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.

Times staff writers John Kendall in Los Angeles and Matt Lait in Orange County contributed to this story.