Temperatures were in the 70s to start the week, but some areas dipped into the 40s Wednesday morning. Temperatures in the 50s and 60s will be widespread Wednesday afternoon when the bulk of the rain is expected.
“The drive into work will be just fine, but as we head into the afternoon that rain band is going to set up right along the coast,” said De Leon. “As we head into the afternoon, the roads are going to be slippery.”
Rainfall totals will be less that one-quarter inch in most areas. More rain is possible in San Gabriel Mountain communities.
Snow will be likely at elevations of about 5,000 feet.
Southeast winds will buffet the area, gusting to 40 mph in the mountains. A winter weather advisory will be in effect in the Los Angeles County mountains from 1 to 10 p.m. Wednesday.
Expect 2 to 4 inches of snow and slippery road conditions.
The storm system will be short-lived, with conditions drying out for Thursday and Friday.
The rain comes near the end of what has been a dry winter. For only the eighth time in more than 140 years, no measurable rain fell in downtown Los Angeles during the month of February.
February is typically downtown's wettest month, averaging about 3.8 inches. Records for downtown Los Angeles date back to 1877.
California Department of Water Resources
The results of California's annual snowpack surveys in the Sierra Nevada Mountains have been mixed over the decades.
NBC10 Boston
The California Department of Water Resources conducts a snow survey to measure the snowpack in the Sierras in El Dorado County in Northern California. Photo taken sometime during 1958.
California Department of Water Resources
California Department of Water Resources snow survey team right, Ray Barsch and Christopher Carr cross country ski to the Alpha test site, 7600 feet elevation in the Sierra Nevada mountain range near Forni Ridge and Lyons Creek in El Dorado County north of U.S. Highway 50. The water runoff from this area is part of the American River Watershed in Northern California. Photo taken April 11, 1967. Paul Weber / California Department of Water Resources, FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY
California Department of Water Resources
Center, Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program for the Department of Water Resources prepares for the monthly snow survey at Phillips Station in El Dorado County in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Photo taken March 2, 2009.
Telemundo
Right, Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program for the Department of Water Resources leads the way to conducts the monthly snow survey during a snow storm at Phillips Station in El Dorado County in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Photo taken March 3, 2010.
Kelly Grow / California Department of Water Resources
Frank Gehrke conducts California Department of Water Resources monthly snow survey at Phillips Station near Echo Summit on December 30th, 2014.
California Department of Water Resources
The mountains at Phillips Station near Echo Summit on January 3, 2014.
CADWR
Frank Gehrke (DWR Chief of Snow Surveys) addresses the media during a snow survey at Phillips Station on April 1, 2015. The black tag on the pole is where the snow was in the drought year of 1977, the yellow tag is where the snow was the year before, and the green tag is where the snow is on an average year.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) conducts a snow survey at Phillips Station on April 1, 2015. Measurements in Phillips began in 1942, and this report marked the first time there was zero snow for an April 1 measurement. Below-normal precipitation, combined with unusually warm weather, produced meager snowfall during the traditional wet season.
California Department of Water Resources
Right, Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program for the Department of Water Resources, conducts the monthly snow survey at Philips Station.
California Department of Water Resources
Members of the California Council on Science and Technology Science Policy Fellows left to right, Michael Peterson, Julianne McCall and Mikel Shybut assist Frank Gehrke Chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program with the second snow survey of the 2017 snow season at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The survey site is approximately 90 miles east of Sacramento off Highway 50 in El Dorado County. Photo taken February 2, 2017.
Dale Kolke / California Department of Water Resources
The third snow survey of the 2017 snow season at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The survey site is approximately 90 miles east of Sacramento off Highway 50 in El Dorado County. Photo taken March 1, 2017.
California Department of Water Resources
A snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountain peak to the northwest from the Phillips Station meadow where the California Department of Water Resources conducted its third snow survey of the winter 2017 season. Photo taken March 1, 2017.
California DWR
A view of the Phillips Station site on Jan. 3, 2018 before the first snow survey of the season.
California DWR
A view of Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Feb. 1, 2018 during the second snowpack survey of the year.
CA DWR
A view of Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada Mountains ahead of the third manual snow survey of 2018. The same meadow had just 7 percent of its usual snowfall a couple of weeks ago. A big winter storm a week earlier brought that up to 39 percent.
California Department of Water Resources
Frank Gehrke, Chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program leads the way to conduct the fourth snow survey of 2018 at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The survey site is approximately 90 miles east of Sacramento off Highway 50 in El Dorado County. Photo taken April 2, 2018.
California Department of Water Resources
John King, Water Resource Engineer, of the California Department of Water Resources, prepares to insert the long aluminum snow depth survey pole into the snow for the third media snow survey of the 2019 season at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The manual survey recorded 113 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 43.5 inches -- more than double the previous month.
California Department of Water Resources
John King, Water Resource Engineer, DWR Snow Survey Section, leads the fourth snow survey of water year, followed by team of members of DWR's excecutive staff. The survey showed snow water equivalent at 200 percent of average for the site.
California DWR
The third snow survey of the season is conducted March 2, 2021.
California DWR
California’s Jan. 3, 2023 snow survey in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
California closed out its fifth straight month of below-normal precipitation, which is bad news for the critical snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The third manual snow survey of the season on Tuesday recorded 56 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 21 inches, which is 86 percent of average for the location at Philip’s Ranch Station in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Snow water equivalent is the depth of water that theoretically would result if the entire snowpack melted instantaneously.
The manual surveys are conducted monthly through April and, if necessary, May. The department also uses electronic monitors to gauge California's water needs. Those stations indicate statewide snowpack with a snow water equivalent of 15 inches, or 61 percent of the March 2 average, and 54 percent of the April 1 average.
