Stiff Polar Blasts Chill the Valley : Light Snow and Drizzle Fall; Warming and Clearing Are Forecast

Blasts of polar air gave the usually warm winds of a Santa Ana condition the cold bite of an East Coast fall Friday, bringing the San Fernando Valley and surrounding area its first real nip of winter and the season’s coldest day to date.

Light snow teased the area north of the Santa Clarita Valley, creating momentary early-morning pauses on roadways in Gorman and the Antelope Valley, but never amounting to more than a light drizzle and melting on contact below 3,500 feet.

“It’s disappointing because we don’t have any pretty snow, but we also didn’t have a bunch of wrecks and people sliding into each other,” said Deputy Ed Grantham of the Antelope Valley Sheriff’s Station.

“It’s still cold, though.”

In the Los Angeles Basin, highs Friday of only 59 at the Civic Center and lows there of 50 gave the area its lowest peak temperature on record. The coldest high temperature previously recorded on a Nov. 18 was 61, in 1982, said Stuart Seto of the National Weather Service.

And as cold as it was Downtown, it was even colder through most of the Valley. Highs here Friday were as cool as 55 in Burbank and lows were as low as 39 in Woodland Hills, where there was also a trace of rain.

Although the chill had Angelenos buttoning their jackets, it still was not cold enough for authorities to open the Valley’s only cold-weather shelter for the homeless at the National Armory Guard in Van Nuys.

Through late fall, a federally funded program goes into effect at 22 locations in Los Angeles County, but the shelters open only when there is a forecast of temperatures falling to below 40 degrees or a 50% chance of rain. During the second phase of the program, which begins Dec. 13 and continues through Feb. 28, the shelters will be open every night, regardless of weather.

Nevertheless, it was cold enough Friday in the Antelope Valley to open a 50-bed shelter at Catholic Charities in Lancaster. Information about the shelters can be obtained daily after 11 a.m. by calling (800) 548-6047.

The worst is probably over for now, forecasters said. Although lows Friday night were expected to hover only around 42 and lows in cold spots like Woodland Hills, Canoga Park, Santa Clarita and Newhall were expected to dip down to freezing, National Weather Service meteorologists were projecting a gradual warming beginning tonight. Sunday is expected to bring more normal high temperatures in the 60s and 70s and lows in the 50s.

Some store owners weren’t complaining. Don Phillips, a manager at Sport Chalet in West Hills, said business picked up dramatically toward the end of the week, as if the cold weather was both an impetus to buy jackets, parkas, gloves and scarves and a reminder that the ski season has already begun.

“The repair shop is going crazy,” Phillips said. “Everyone’s getting ready for the season. All of our rains had snow in the mountains this year.

“The cold finally brought people in the stores.”

Times staff writer Tracey Kaplan contributed to this story.