A winter storm made its way through Southern California overnight, bringing the first rain and snow of the season to the region.
The rain was expected to taper off early Monday, but roads will be slippery for the morning drive. Drivers can expect ponding on roads. About 200 collisions were reported on L.A. County freeways between 9 p.m. Sunday and 1 a.m. Monday, compared with 30 during the same period one week ago when conditions were dry, according to the CHP.
Early Monday rainfall totals ranged from .73 of an inch in downtown Los Angeles to just more than an inch in Pasadena.
"We've had the most rainfall since March -- a good soaking overnight," said NBC4 forecaster Crystal Egger.
Finally! A great soaking in #SoCal - join me @nbcla for the latest. #FirstAlert #LARain #TodayinLA pic.twitter.com/VsGL7C1bE3
— Crystal Egger (@crystalNBCLA) November 21, 2016
Snow levels were expected to drop to the 7,000- or 6,000-foot elevation, enough to dust the mountains with 3-8 inches of snow at mountaintops higher than Mt. Wilson. But that snow would turn to rain below 6,000 feet, and would not ice up the Grapevine or Cajon Pass.
A winter weather advisory said up to 12 inches of snow would fall at the highest elevations of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains. Cold winds gusting to 40 miles per hour were predicted for the evening in the mountains.
Recent fire areas near Santa Clarita were singled out for particular dangers of debris flows. Pacific Coast Highway west of Malibu, in the Station Fire burn area, have seen rockfalls in recent similar storms, CHP officers have said. No problems were reported early Monday.
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Gusty conditions are predicted in mountains and passes early Monday, where 30-40 mph winds are likely, according to the Weather Service. The system will clear to the east by Monday afternoon, with precipitation tapering off by nightfall.
"It's going to be dry through the afternoon, but definitely on the breezy side," said Egger.
The storm also led to power outages across Los Angeles County.
More than 3,000 customers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power were without power Monday morning. The outages included 1,377 in Valley Village, 1,252 in Boyle Heights, 360 in Sherman Oaks, 298 in Harbor Gateway and 145 in Baldwin Hills, the DWP said on its website.
The other major utility serving the Southland, Southern California Edison, said power was restored Monday to about 500 of 2,200 customers who had been without electricity in Los Angeles County. The outages started at about 7 p.m. Sunday in Rosemead, where more than 80 customers were without power. Power there was not restored as of the pre- dawn hours.
