Storms Hopscotch Southland, Dumping Hail, Causing 2 Freeway Pileups

Hail the size of golf balls piled up three inches deep in Fallbrook; snow frosted the shores of Big Bear Lake, and brief but heavy thunderstorms snarled early holiday weekend traffic as a late spring storm staged a hit-and-miss attack on Southern California on Friday afternoon.

The blustery storm was blamed for two massive pileups in the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 near San Clemente in Orange County as at least 17 vehicles--including a couple of big rigs--skidded out of control, the California Highway Patrol said.

The first accident, about 2:25 p.m., involved 15 cars that banged together in the northbound lanes near the Avenida Pico exit in San Clemente, blocking all the northbound lanes, CHP Officer Keith Bauer said.

Minutes later, about a mile north at the Avenida Palizado exit in San Clemente, two big rigs jackknifed, spilling 200 gallons of diesel fuel and a payload of concrete onto the freeway, Bauer said.

Only minor injuries were reported in the two incidents. Northbound lanes at Avenida Pico were cleared by 4 p.m., but damage to the freeway from the concrete spill had all but one lane at Palizado closed into the evening. With two dozen other accidents in the same area Friday afternoon, CHP officials told callers not to expect an officer to assist them unless they were reporting an injury accident.

“With the big accidents, we just didn’t have enough officers to handle all the calls we were getting,” Bauer said.

The storm hit the Southland hardest in Orange, San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, with some areas receiving no precipitation while others were drenched by brief downpours.

Almost half an inch of rain fell near San Juan Capistrano, and 1 1/2 inches of snow piled up briefly at Big Bear Valley.

A few light showers fell in eastern Los Angeles County, but only a few isolated raindrops dotted the pavement at the Los Angeles Civic Center.

Meteorologists said the stormy weather--unusual for this time of year--was generated by a large low-pressure system centered over the Arizona-Southern California border. They said this system was expected to drift east by this morning.

Skies should be partly cloudy in Los Angeles today, with high temperatures in most areas of the city in the mid- to upper 60s. The weather should be mostly sunny Sunday and Monday, with high temperatures ranging from the upper 60s and low 70s near the ocean to the upper 70s and lower 80s in the valleys.