Winter Wallop

The latest blast of wet weather hit Ventura County on Saturday, dropping more than half an inch of rain in most cities and blankets of fresh snow in the mountains above Ojai.

And more is on the way.

“We had a cold front move through and it’s still continuing to move through,” said Curt Kaplan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “There will be a lot of rain to come.”

The forecast calls for showers to continue on and off today and Monday and possibly early Tuesday. Temperatures are expected to range from the upper 40s to the low 50s during the next two days.

On Saturday, half an inch of rain fell along the coast in Ventura, Oxnard and Point Mugu, while one-third of an inch fell in Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks. It was a chilly 49 degrees in Thousand Oaks and Oxnard Saturday, and 48 in Ventura.

More than a foot of snow was forecast for the back country, while winds in the mountains were expected to top 25 mph, Kaplan said.

Minor road flooding was reported throughout the county, including high water on Ventura Avenue at Shell Road in Ventura.

Law enforcement agencies reported no serious crashes on local roadways but officers responded to more than a dozen fender-benders between dawn and dusk.

Two lanes of the northbound Ventura Freeway near Vineyard Avenue in Oxnard were closed for more than an hour when the driver of a empty tanker truck lost control on the wet road and overturned about 12:30 p.m. The driver was uninjured but county workers were called out to throw sand on the oily roadway, according to the California Highway Patrol.

A motorist whose vehicle slid off icy Lockwood Valley Road in the back country late Friday was forced to remain in his car until sheriff’s deputies could rescue him early Saturday.

“He spent the night in his sleeping bag in the car but he had to be shoveled out this morning,” said Fawn Gasaway, wife of the resident sheriff’s deputy stationed in the remote valley.

Several inches of early morning snow Saturday caught residents and road crew workers by surprise, she said. California 33 north of Ojai was open to vehicles late Saturday, but Gasaway said chains were required on Lockwood Valley Road.

Meanwhile, slick roads and chilly temperatures did not deter three dozen Southland residents from caravaning to Oxnard in the afternoon to drop off carloads of nonperishable food and toiletries as part of a campaign to draw attention to the plight of workers at Pictsweet Mushroom Farms. United Farm Workers of America is seeking a new contract for the workers.

Three hundred pickers at the plant are demanding raises, better medical coverage and a pension plan. Pictsweet officials maintain workers already receive wages and benefits comparable to those at other mushroom farms.

“We had a bigger turnout than I expected” despite the rain, said Brendan Greene, a UFW organizer. “This support gives the workers the will to continue.”