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Rain, snow hit Southern California on Sunday, with more expected on Wednesday

by in News

Sporadic bouts of rain hit all areas of Southern California for much of the mid-morning and afternoon on Sunday, along with snow in the mountains, with more precipitation expected as another winter storm sweeps over the region by Wednesday.

The heaviest bands of rain and mountain snow began moving south through Santa Barbara County into western Los Angeles County at around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, before continuing through Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

In Pomona, the storm cut short eliminations at the 59th annual NHRA Internationals at Auto Club Raceway. They were rescheduled for Monday.

Officials with the National Weather Service said locals should expect a break in the weather on Monday and most of the day Tuesday. But they’re also tracking a bigger storm that will blow in by midweek.

“For Monday and Tuesday, rather benign weather is anticipated for the area,” meteorologists for NWS Los Angeles said in their forecast. “On Wednesday, wet weather will return…all solutions indicate rain will develop Wednesday morning and will continue through Wednesday night.”

They said Wednesday’s storm could bring as much as 2.5 inches of rain and strong winds.

“Along with the rain, there will be some pretty gusty southerly winds on Wednesday with advisories possible in many areas, especially the mountains,” the NWS said.

This weekend’s rain was a preview for the storms later in the week — NWS said rainfall totals on Sunday were about a half inch by the afternoon, with another quarter of an inch expected to fall through the night.

Sunday’s storm front also brought colder air in behind it, according to the NWS. That will make for wintry conditions Sunday night and into Monday, with lots of snow for the mountains.

Lake Arrowhead in San Bernardino got about 5 inches of snow on Sunday, the NWS said. Crestline saw about 4 inches.

And snow began to coat roads in the Grapevine by the afternoon. Early in the evening, the 5 Freeway there was closed in both directions because of the inclement weather, Caltrans said. There was no immediate word on when the freeway would reopen.

 

The NWS also warned of icy roadways on Highway 2 in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Wind advisories were issued for downtown Los Angeles, Malibu, Santa Monica and Long Beach starting at 10 p.m. Sunday  through 4 a.m. Monday morning.

The NWS warned that high winds would make driving difficult on all freeways throughout the area, including Pacific Coast Highway, and the 10, 105, 405, 605 and 710 freeways.

Gusty winds were felt across mountain areas of Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties throughout Sunday — the strongest winds were recorded in San Bernardino County, topping out at 63 mph in Burns Canyon and 57 mph in the Cajon Pass.

“When driving, use extra caution,” the NWS said in its wind advisory. “Be prepared for sudden gusty cross winds.”