Snow Closes Part of Antelope Valley Freeway

It wasn’t even April Fool’s Day yet but Mother Nature was up to cruel tricks several hours early.

Nearly two weeks after spring was supposed to have started, residents of the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys were catching snowflakes on their tongues Tuesday night, scraping the white stuff off their cars or getting stuck in traffic jams on snow-clogged highways.

Snow fell in Palmdale, Leona Valley, Lake Hughes and Littlerock. After 3 to 4 inches fell on the Antelope Valley Freeway, the California Highway Patrol closed it at about 7:05 p.m. from Agua Dulce Canyon Road to Palmdale Boulevard to allow Caltrans workers to plow, CHP Officer Karen Faciane said.

Commuters were routed onto already traffic-heavy surface streets. The freeway was reopened by about 10 p.m., with CHP officers escorting motorists.

Meanwhile, CHP officers escorted motorists on the Golden State Freeway from California 138 through the Grapevine, Faciane said.

CHP officers and Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies at the Lancaster station fielded several calls of drivers stuck in snow.

“Everybody is off the road for the moment, but the morning commute ought to be fun,” Sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Handley of the Lancaster station said.

Temperatures Tuesday night were expected to hover around the freezing point in Lancaster and Palmdale, said Dave Gomberg, a Weather Service meteorologist. Temperatures in the 40s were expected in the San Fernando Valley.

The rain and snow mixture was expected to last until noon today but the heaviest accumulation was expected to taper off late Tuesday, said Bruce Rockwell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

The National Weather Service issued a heavy snow warning for elevations of 4,000 feet and a snow advisory for those at 2,000 feet and higher elevations, said Rockwell.

“It’s a little unusual this time of year. I’ve seen these storms before in the early spring, but it’s not totally unheard of,” said Gomberg.

Weather experts blamed the snow on a cold storm from the Pacific Northwest. Also to blame for the lower temperatures was a cold front last weekend that sent the mercury plummeting. There was no time for the air to warm up before another cold front hit the area Tuesday, Gomberg said.

The chill rain locally might have represented a typical early spring day in the Northeast. But thanks to the contrary effects of the El Nino phenomenon--which brings rain and cold to Southern California but warmer and drier weather to the Northeast--residents there have enjoyed several days of beach weather. It was 86 degrees Tuesday in New York’s Central Park and a balmy 82 in Washington.