After last week’s epic winter storm hit Southern California, new satellite images from NASA Earth Observatory show snow blanketing the region’s mountains.
UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said we could see “historically significant snowfall for parts of Southern California’s mountains.”
“This pit may be the largest single snowfall in some parts of Southern California since the 1980s,” Swain told The Times before the storm hit. “This is a big problem.”
National Weather Service data details the incredible amounts of snow on several peaks as of 9 a.m. Sunday:
- Mountain High Resort, located at an elevation of 7,000 feet in the San Gabriel Mountains, had 93 inches of snow, or nearly 8 feet. The resort is located north of Mt. Baldy.
- Mt. Pinos, near Frazier Park in Los Padres National Forest, saw up to 72 inches of snow, or 6 feet. The mountain is more than 2500 meters high.
- Mt. Towering over Pasadena at 5,700 feet, Wilson saw 16 inches of snow.
The snowfall left some residents stranded in the San Bernandino Mountains. In the Lake Arrowhead area, where more than five feet of snow fell, the situation is serious.
“It’s really bad here,” says Brooke Cutler, who’s staying with a friend in Lake Arrowhead. “People are really in trouble and suffering.”
Olivia Wightman, 10, left, and her sister Lucy Wightman, 7, both from Glendale, step outside their home to watch the snow fall on Saturday afternoon.
(Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)
Another storm this week could bring a total of up to 2 feet of snow at the highest elevations, officials said, which could create more challenges for residents and officials after days of blocked roads due to snow and ice from the last storm.
Officials say the latest storm doesn’t have as much moisture or strength as the previous system, which brought significant rain and snowfall to the region, but it could still cause notable disruption, especially on roads Wednesday morning.
A winter weather warning is already in effect for most of the region’s mountains, which has been upgraded to a winter storm warning Tuesday afternoon through late Wednesday, when heavier snow, high winds and difficult travel are expected.
Times staff writers Hayley Smith and Nathan Solis contributed to this report.
