Steady rainfall, heavy at times, pummeled much of the Southland overnight and is expected to continue intermittently throughout much of Saturday with blizzard conditions in the mountains.
The blizzard warning — the first issued in the area since 1989 — will remain in place until 4 p.m. Saturday in the Los Angeles Mountains.
The rain is expected to taper off by late Saturday or early Sunday.
“Showers will likely continue across the region into Saturday,” according to the NWS. “The potential for isolated thunderstorms will linger into Saturday afternoon.”
“Heavy rain expected to taper down to scatter showers from west to east into early Saturday, with the front being east of LA County by 10 a.m.,” forecasters said. “Models have been showing another little impulse coming through in the afternoon and evening mainly across Ventura and LA counties that will also have some instability with it so isolated thunderstorms with brief heavy rain are possible.”
Forecasters said that even when the precipitation begins to dissipate, a cold air mass will keep temperatures “much below normal through the weekend.”
Record low temperatures were reported in parts of Orange County Thursday. It was 57 in Anaheim on Thursday, breaking the record for the lowest maximum temperature of 58 set in 2022. It was 54 in Newport Beach, breaking the record of 55 set in 1946.
Rain and hail fell on parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties Thursday. Even the Hollywood Sign was hit by hail, along with Venice Beach. Pasadena, Santa Monica and Long Beach also got pelted with hail.
Coastal and valley areas could get between 2 and 5 inches of rain during the storm by Saturday night, with 5 to 10 inches possible in the foothills.
In Duarte, city officials implemented a yellow alert in the Fish Fire burn area beginning at 11 a.m. Thursday. During the alert, Mel Canyon Road will remain closed between Brookridge and Fish Canyon roads, and residents of the 25 homes in the area will be under parking restrictions and ordered to remove trash bins from the street. The trash pickup scheduled for Friday was canceled and rescheduled for Monday, city officials said.
Temperatures will be in the 40s and 50s in most of the area, although they will drop into the 30s in the mountains and some valley areas, particularly at night, and into the 20s in the Antelope Valley.
High winds will make it feel even colder.
“Winds may drop off Saturday, so the blizzard warning may be downgraded early for some areas,” forecasters said. “Expect whiteout conditions at times within the blizzard warning, mainly above 3,500 to 4,500 feet in elevation. Significant blowing and drifting of snow combined with the whiteout conditions will make driving very difficult to impossible, including for rescue crews.
“The incredible amount of snow combined with the strong wind will lead to extreme avalanche conditions along steeper terrain and at lower elevations than we typically experience in southern California. The most significant threat for avalanches is typically within 24 hours of new snowfall. The heavy snowfall will increase risk of downed trees and power outages and can cause damage to roofs which have shallow slopes.”
The rainy weather forced a series of closures and cancellations of events across the area. The Major League Soccer season-opening match Saturday at the Rose Bowl between the LA Galaxy and LAFC was postponed until July 4. A BikeLA Cruise & Connect ride scheduled for Saturday through Griffith Park was also scrubbed.
Horse racing has been canceled through the weekend at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia. Knott’s Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain were both closed Friday.