Southland to Get More Rain, Snow for Christmas : Weather: It is a day of sledding and building snowmen for people visiting the mountains. Showers are expected to last through today, with peaks getting another dusting of white.

A holiday storm system that dumped chilling rain on the Los Angeles area and snow on nearby mountaintops will offer a second, less powerful dose of winter today, weather forecasters said Sunday.

Scattered showers began late Sunday afternoon, moving onshore around Long Beach and in Ventura County. The rain was expected to continue into the night and throughout most of today, according to meteorologist Curtis Brack of WeatherData Inc., which provides weather information to The Times.

High temperatures will be in the upper 50s at lower altitudes, but snow will probably develop in mountain areas above 4,000 feet, he said.

California Highway Patrol officials said the weather had created trouble for some motorists. Motorists in mountainous areas were cautioned to use snow chains.

“The last storm was a little unexpected. We can’t predict the weather, but we expect most of the [pre-Christmas] holiday travel is done,” CHP Officer Garry Goldenberg said. “Our biggest problem today has been potholes.”

While residents of the Los Angeles Basin spent Sunday under changing skies, scampering for gifts and clearing obstacles from chimneys, it was a day of snowman construction, snowball combat and daredevil sled rides in the mountains. Scores of families headed for the hills Sunday to enjoy the winter landscapes developing at higher altitudes.

“We decided, in a moment, to come,” said Beatric Jimenez, 12, as she took a break making a snowman with her on a wooden deck jutting over Lake Arrowhead. Her family had hopped in the car from Los Angeles early Sunday after hearing about the snow-covered the mountaintops. “I wanted to look at the snow, see how it feels.”

It was the first time she had ever seen it.

For Patty Alcocer, 15, the trip wasn’t quite as spontaneous. Her family had planned to trek up to the resort area from their home in La Habra earlier this month, and made the drive Saturday. The snow, although unexpected, was more than welcome.

“Christmas just isn’t Christmas without snow,” said Alcocer, watching her younger brother taunt the ducks swimming in the lake. For her boyfriend, Javier Lopez, 16, the trip marked only his second experience with snow. Alcocer pelted him with a snowball moments after he begged her not to.

Ski resorts, meanwhile, reported wonderland-quality business days. A spokeswomanfor Snow Summit resort in Big Bear said 4,000 skiers turned out Sunday to dash through the six to eight inches of new snow that fell over the weekend.

“Santa Claus brought us our Christmas present yesterday,” said the recorded snow report from Mountain High resort in Wrightwood, which boasted one foot of new snow from the weekend storm.

To some merchants in the San Bernardino Mountains, however, the snow wasn’t all that welcome on Christmas Eve.

Michael Grabowski, owner of the Just Browsing gift store, said Saturday’s surprise snow had slowed down business on what was supposed to be one of the shop’s busiest weekends of the year. But with Sunday afternoon’s thaw, customers began streaming in.

“Normally, the 23rd is the biggest day, but yesterday we just got hammered,” he said. “I think we’ll pick up today. It’s those late bloomers. They’ll be here today.”

Up the road in the town of Running Springs, dozens of children--and their parents, many armed with video cameras--climbed a huge hill for a day of tobogganing. Families without sleds who ventured to town had only to cross the street, where the Mountain Showcase store’s toboggan sale was in full swing. Shop owner Randy Rogers said he sold more than 50 plastic sleds by lunchtime.

“It’s a good day for business,” said Rogers, breathing a sigh of relief that the snow had come. “We were waiting a while for it.”

With sleds securely beneath them, children and their parents careened down the hill, being careful not to slam into the row of cars parked at the bottom. But at least one sledder, Rilo Rodriguez, 32, ran into trouble--and the front bumper of a pickup truck. Unscathed, the San Bernardino resident hopped to his feet and looked back up at his point of departure.

“We decided the day before yesterday to come. It started raining, and got all cold,” he said. “Seems like the snow’s been here all winter.”

Rhea Martinez, 33, had brought her husband and four children from La Verne when the snowflakes began to fall.

“We just didn’t want to sit around,” she said. “We’re really beach people. But we wanted a little change of pace.”

For Running Springs resident Matt Furness, who was pushing a snow blower across his front yard, the precipitation was simply part of the season. “Everybody was really waiting for snow,” he said.