Los Angeles mountains get another sprinkling of snow, and Grapevine may be next

Southern California’s mountain ranges got between 8 and 20 inches of snow overnight and a new low pressure system Tuesday night could mean up to 4 inches of snow along the Grapevine stretch of the 5 Freeway.

Wrightwood saw 12 inches of snow while Mountain High had between 18 and 20 inches overnight. Big Bear and Snow Summit had between 12 and 18 inches, said National Weather Service meteorologist Tom Fisher.

A new cold front is expected to pass through California on Tuesday night into early Wednesday, the weather service said.

Most of Southern California will miss out on moisture but the Grapevine and the mountains around it are expected to get between 2 and 4 inches of snow, according to the weather service, which issued a winter storm advisory for that area until Wednesday morning.

Snow levels will drop to between 3,500 and 4,000 feet after midnight and gusts of up to 60 mph are possible over high peaks.

A winter storm warning in the eastern San Gabriels has expired but the area will remain gusty through early Wednesday.

Los Angeles got a nice break from the cold Tuesday.

As the cold front that brought snow to the mountains moved into Arizona, it left behind a warmer air mass that raised temperatures the 70s for the first time in a month in some areas, the weather service said.

Downtown Los Angeles reached 70 degrees Tuesday, the first high of 70 or more in the area since Jan. 29.

That run of 41 consecutive days with a high below 70 makes is the fifth longest such streak since 1877 and the longest streak since the winter of 1936 and 1937.

It has been a wet winter so far for Southern California. Downtown Los Angeles has received 17.98 inches of rain since the water year began in October, surpassing the 14.93 inches the city gets on average annually. One storm after another has come through the region. Last week also saw spectacular lightning across the Southland.

javier.panzar@latimes.com

@jpanzar