Winter storm brings rain and snow to Southern California

The first significant storm of the season in Los Angeles arrived on Sunday night, bringing with it intense lightning, thunder, hail and road hazards, but no significant landslides or debris flow in recent burn areas.

The storm hit southern California, dropping up to 12 inches of snow in high-altitude mountain areas and a half-inch of rain in central Los Angeles before dawn, according to the National Weather Service.

The flooding continued throughout Monday, with downpours and thunderous crashes. Total rainfall reached a peak of more than 7 centimeters in Santa Bárbara and San Luis Obispo counties, meteorologists said. Whittier, Norwalk and eastern parts of the San Gabriel Valley have seen hail. The total snowfall in the mountains of LA County is expected to range from 6 to 12 inches at altitudes of around 5,000 feet at night.

At noon, parts of La Mirada appeared to be covered in a light layer of snow after the storm blew pea-sized hail.

The storm arrived on a cold front from the northwest, said David Sweet, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

“Everyone saw it, or they were woken up in the middle of the night, when the cold front passed with storms, a little hail, gusts of wind and some heavy local rain,” said Sweet. “This is a very powerful system.”

The storm resulted in slow travels on highways and dangerous driving conditions in snowy mountain ranges.

Angelenos turned to social media to document the storm – the first significant rain the area has had since April.

“LA Rain” was a trend on Twitter for several hours.

The LA County Fire Department said residents in areas of recent burning could receive sandbags at their barracks and advised people avoid flooded areas, flood channels, watersheds, gorges and watercourses vulnerable to floods.

But the storm did not produce significant flows of debris in the burning zones, said Lisa Phillips, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Water rescues occurred, however, with the Los Angeles Fire Department deploying 75 air and land response teams – including a fast-water rescue team – to help a man and woman trapped on the LA River near Atwater Village by around 3:30.

The man and woman, estimated in their 40s, were surrounded by 1.2m deep rainwater, flowing at up to 13 km / h, said LAFD spokesman Brian Humphrey.

“Moving water beyond ankle height can knock you down,” said Humphrey, noting that the river bottom can also become mossy and slippery. “It is dangerous and it could have been deadly.”

The man and woman, who live near the area, were rescued by an inflatable moored boat, Humphrey said. They refused to be taken to a hospital after being taken to a safe place.

Humphrey emphasized the danger posed by rainwater and said that people often forget that debris flows are common with significant rainfall. Even animal carcasses and large appliances can pass through flood control channels, streams and streams, he said, and asked parents to prevent children from playing in or near these areas.

“It hasn’t rained in a long time,” he said. “You can easily be pushed a mile or two downstream and potentially lose your life.”

In Santa Ana, Orange County Fire Authority officials rescued two individuals on Monday night who were trapped inside a flood control channel.

Thanh Nguyen, an agency firefighter captain, said a rescue team used a boat to reach the man and woman, who were found hanging in the tunnel to avoid being dragged by rainwater. He didn’t know how the pair got there.

“In a few moments, you can have a body of water moving really fast,” said Nguyen.

Some additional showers were expected on Monday night across Southern California, but “everything is slowing down,” said Phillips, the meteorologist.

“It looks like we only have a few showers left in the area – and I hope they will decrease over night,” she said.

Next week there will be dry weather in the Los Angeles area, but strong winds are expected in the coming days in canyons and mountain passes.