Snow could fall on Grapevine with latest storm series
Los Angeles County residents can enjoy clear skies Friday, but nightfall will usher in a new storm system that is set to bring light rain and enough mountain snow to cause hazardous driving conditions on the Grapevine stretch of Interstate 5.
A low-pressure system of Arctic air is making its way south toward the San Francisco Bay Area and will bring up to an inch of rain as it moves into San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara counties Friday afternoon and evening before reaching Ventura and Los Angeles counties later Friday night and into Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
“We are not expecting a lot of rain with this storm, really,” said Lisa Phillips of the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
The real concern for travelers is the low snow level of between 4,000 and 4,500 feet Friday night that will drop to between 3,500 and 4,000 feet by Saturday morning, forecasters said. Higher mountains could see 2 to 4 inches of snow.
Motorists on the Grapevine should expected snow, gusty winds and reduced visibility, all leading to delays, according to the weather service.
Some Santa Barbara County mountain peaks could see up to 6 inches of snow, the weather service said.
A series of storms has brought a rare wet winter to the state. Another weaker trough will bring rain and mountain snow late Saturday night into Sunday morning, while dry weather is expected early next week. Yet another storm is expected Wednesday into Thursday, forecasters said.
January storms brought record rains to the state and massive amounts of snow to the mountains and helped double the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada.
Below-normal temperatures are expected through next week throughout Southern California.
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