Winter Returns to the Southland With a Vengeance

Southern Californians can expect cold temperatures, steady showers, gusty winds and snowfall for at least half of the three-day weekend as a storm system from the San Francisco Bay area traveling down the coast blankets the Los Angeles Basin.

Lows will drop to the upper 30s and low 40s, and highs will be in the 50s, said Jamie Smith, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

“It’s going to be much colder,” Smith said. “We’ve just been spoiled.”

Smith said temperatures have dropped so much the last few days in the mountains that the snow level will decrease from 3,500 feet to 2,500 feet by this evening. Mountain temperatures will be in the upper 20s to low 40s, she said.

“We’re expecting totals of just under a foot of snow in those areas,” Smith said. “It should be nice and powdery.”

Between a quarter and a half an inch of rain is expected to fall on the L.A. Basin, but that will do little to alleviate the region’s dry spell. The area has recorded just 5 inches of rain since the season began July 1, 4.4 inches short of normal, Smith said.

This time last year the region was experiencing one of its wettest seasons and recorded 25 1/2 inches of rain, Smith said.

This weekend, however, “it’s just going to shower,” she said. And “it will be annoyingly windy.”

Wind gusts of up to 30 mph are predicted -- enough to topple branches but not big rigs, Smith said.

“People should definitely take caution with the holiday weekend,” she said. “Travel is going to be pretty difficult on the Grapevine with the wind and the snow. The peak of the Grapevine is 4,200 feet.”

Smith said the storm should move out by Sunday afternoon, then it will be “back to our nice Southern California weather for the rest of the week.”