Southern California mountains see season’s first snow, with another storm forecast for next week
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Snow is expected to fall on top of a snowpack that is almost 70 percent of normal for this time of the year in February
This undated photo shows the snowpack from the High Desert region of Sierra Nevada, as it should be in February. Snow is expected to fall on top of a snowpack that is almost 70 percent of normal for this time of the year in February. (Hector Mata/AFP/Getty Images)
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Snowfall amounts are expected to be in the single digits in Southern California mountains through next week, before the precipitation turns to rain on the mountains from Thursday through the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
The snowfall amounts range up to 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 centimeters) in some areas, with 6 inches (15 centimeters) in the Sierra Nevada, 5 inches (12 centimeters) on the East Sierra slope between Mammoth Mountain and Mono Lake, and 5 to 7 inches (13 to 18 centimeters) in the Inyo National Forest, according to the weather system forecast.
Another storm is expected to come in the late next week or the first week in March, with snow falling in the mountains the rest of the way through April, according to the forecast.
The snow will stick around, but it will be a different kind of snow.
“It’ll probably be wet snow,” said Doug Rau, a spokesman for the National Weather Service. “That’s an overall trend with the winter so far, at least.”
The snowstorms will arrive with plenty of moisture from a storm that’s headed for the Sierra Nevadas that’s set to drop more than 25 inches (65 centimeters) of snow there, according to the model forecasts.
The snow is expected to stick around, but it will be a different kind of snow, Rau said.
“It’ll probably be wet snow,” he said. “That’s an overall trend with the winter so far, at least.”
