Goose Bumps May Go --but Rain Predicted

Snow frosted the mountaintops ringing the San Fernando Valley, providing a scenic rose-and-white sunset vista Monday.

But the cold system that sent temperatures plunging throughout Southern California during the weekend was heading eastward through Nevada today. Warmer temperatures were forecast, with the possibility of some rain tonight.

Although downtown Los Angeles registered a low of 43 degrees Monday, that was still well short of the 37-degree record set in February 1894. Meanwhile, Newhall thermometers dropped to a low of 30 degrees Sunday night and early Monday.

Snow fell on the Grapevine, north of the Santa Clarita Valley, closing the Golden State Freeway at Lake Hughes Road in Castaic for most of Sunday night and early Monday morning. Traffic flowed freely when lanes reopened about 9:30 a.m.

Late Monday, about 3 inches of snow dusted Oat Mountain, the 3,747-foot peak at the western end of the Santa Susana Mountains that form the San Fernando Valley’s northern rim. In Burbank, the early-evening moisture fell as light rain, while hail pelted parts of Granada Hills and North Hollywood.

Wind-downed wires caused a power failure that affected about 800 customers in parts of Tarzana and Reseda about 6 p.m. Monday. Power was restored in about three hours, said DWP spokesman Ed Freudenberg.

Weather forecasters estimated the San Fernando Valley received, on average, half an inch of precipitation Monday. Newhall measured .2 inches of rain.

National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Most said the sporadic showers sprinkling parts of the Los Angeles area would end late Monday night and give way to dry weather today.

“The storm system center is over central Nevada right now, and Southern California is in its periphery,” Most said. “As it moves farther away and its energy dissipates, clear skies will come in. Then, another shot of showers comes in late [tonight] into Wednesday morning.”

Meteorologists expected sunnier skies today, with temperatures warming to the upper 40s or mid-50s.

For Wednesday, the National Weather Service predicted another bout of wet weather, with highs in the 60s and light showers.