{"id":245442,"date":"2023-02-25T12:25:25","date_gmt":"2023-02-25T11:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=245442"},"modified":"2023-02-25T12:31:15","modified_gmt":"2023-02-25T11:31:15","slug":"heavy-snow-hits-parts-of-southern-california-phys-org-latest-science-and-technology-news-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=245442","title":{"rendered":"Heavy snow hits parts of southern California stories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Phys.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Huw GRIFFITH<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Snow has snarled mountain roads around southern California, as a brutal, and unusual, winter storm grips the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Heavy snow fell in southern California on Friday, as the first blizzard in a generation pounded the hills around Los Angeles, with heavy rains threatening flooding in other places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breathless television weather presenters more used to delivering a same-every-day forecast of warm sunshine found themselves knee-deep in the white stuff as the region grappled with its worst winter storm for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major roads were closed as ice and snow made them impassable, including sections of Interstate 5, the main north-south highway that connects Mexico, California, the Pacific Northwest and Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities said there was no estimate when it would be reopened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Dangerous and potentially life-threatening snow related impacts are likely for mountain, desert, and foothill roadways in southern California,” the National Weather Service (NWS) said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Multiple rounds of heavy snowfall coupled with strong winds will lead to blizzard conditions over some of the higher terrain and mountain passes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Areas very close to the Pacific Coast and also into the interior valleys that are not accustomed to seeing snow, may see some accumulating snowfall.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snow and high winds brought down power lines, knocking out the lights for over 100,000 customers in California, according to poweroutage.us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Television stations dispatched their presenters to mountain areas, where some reported on traffic misery and others chatted with gleeful children given the day off school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social media platforms were inundated with pictures of varying amounts of snow in gardens in higher elevation areas, as residents marveled at the winter weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the Hollywood sign appeared to be trying to muscle in on the action, with Jeff Zarrinnam of the Hollywood Sign Trust snapping a picture of a snowball he made at his nearby house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’ve seen everything,” he told the Los Angeles Times, but “it was quite a surprise” to find snow this low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meteorologists were divided over whether it was technically “snow” and the NWS offered a Twitter tutorial for Californians struggling to put a name to the unusual white stuff spoiling the view of palm trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Wondering what kind of frozen precipitation is falling from the sky in your area (assuming you are at a higher elevation)? Here is an informative graphic… that distinguishes between graupel and hail,” NWS Los Angeles tweeted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hail (“hard & solid”) is “frozen raindrops of ice from thunderstorms,” while graupel (“soft & wet”) is “snowflakes that collect supercooled water droplets on the outer surface,” the agency informed readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel Swain, a meteorologist at UCLA said a warming climate\u2014caused by humanity’s unchecked burning of fossil fuels in the industrial age\u2014had changed the nature of winter precipitation in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said last century, many more places might have seen snow in a storm event like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Back in the 1940s there’s records of heavy snowfall in the city of LA and of course that seems almost unthinkable today,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The reality is that the fact that the climate is several degrees warmer in California than it used to be makes low (elevation) snow events less likely.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flash flooding<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For people at those lower elevations, heavy rain on Friday was sparking warnings of inundations and landslides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A flood watch was in place for portions of Ventura, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara Counties where up to an inch (2.5 centimeters) of rain was expected in an hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Increased threat of flash flooding\/rockslides,” the NWS said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Expect potential for very heavy rain, road flooding, small hail, & gusty winds. Ocean waterspouts & land-based tornadoes are possible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winter weather was also making life difficult in other parts of the West, with roads closed in Wyoming, and Oregon reporting near-record snow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Portland experienced its second snowiest day ever recorded (on Thursday) with 10.8 inches of snow,” the NWS bureau in the city said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The heavy weather continued to snarl flights after several days of misery for air travelers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 370 flights into, out of or around the United States had been canceled by 2300 GMT Friday, with almost 6,000 more delayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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