Lows Plunge Into 30s as Cold Spell Settles In

Predawn temperatures plunged into the 30s in the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys Monday, and forecasters said it should stay cold all week.

Amy Talmage, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., said an arctic weather system that slid into California about two weeks ago, bringing cooler than normal temperatures to much of the state, is to blame.

“That cold-air mass has remained in place, with only slight modifications, ever since,” she said. “There hasn’t been any warm air moving in to dislodge it, and so far, I don’t see any on the way.”

Talmage said a separate trough of low pressure was edging south through the state Monday afternoon, bringing rain to the Bay Area and snow to the Sierra, but the precipitation wasn’t expected to reach as far south as Los Angeles.

“That trough is trailed by some more cold air that should keep overnight temperatures in Southern California right where they are,” she said.

Lows before dawn Monday included 34 degrees in Chatsworth; 35 in Northridge, West Covina and Van Nuys; 37 in Glendale; and 38 in Pasadena and Newhall, according to the National Weather Service.

It was even colder in the Antelope Valley, with readings of 18 in Lancaster and 20 in Palmdale.

The overnight low at the downtown thermometer at USC was 45, nine degrees below the normal low for the date but still well above the record Nov. 13 low of 38, set in 1978.

For residents of the high desert, subfreezing temperatures could mean burst water pipes. And for those who service those pipes, like Don Henry, a water-well drilling and pump contractor in Agua Dulce, that could spell a busy winter.

“This is the earliest we’ve had this type of freeze that I can remember,” Henry said.

The annual ritual of winter home repairs was reflected in sales at the Home Depot in Santa Clarita, store manager Byron Priestley said.

“People are buying insulation for the attic, wall heaters, floor heaters, things like that,” Priestly said.

Chimney sweeps were in demand, said Paul Zappulla of All American Chimney Sweep in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys.

“When it gets cold, we get calls from people who start thinking that the holidays are coming and they want to have a fire in the fireplace,” Zappulla said.

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Times Community News reporter Gail Davis in Ventura County contributed to this story.