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Thursday, January 18, 2007

Los Angeles Winter Wonderland



Above, that's technically hail in Westwood (pic via L.A. Times) -- but it sure looks like snow. The real stuff did indeed fall in Southern California on Wednesday, in Malibu, on the Santa Monica Mountains and in the West Valley. It was the first trace of snow in 18 years in these parts.

The L.A. Times has the details:

Southern California's six-day cold snap took a surreal turn Wednesday as a rare snowstorm brought out snowplows to the canyons above Malibu, left parts of the San Fernando Valley with a white dusting and shut down Interstate 5.

The snow levels plunged well below 1,000 feet, blanketing the Santa Monica Mountains with snow and leaving streets and lawns in Venice, Westwood and beyond covered with ice from pea-sized hail.

A stronger than expected low pressure storm system high in the atmosphere turned a merely cold day into one of snow, rain and hail, said Jamie Meier, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

The system under normal circumstance would have brought a typical rainstorm through L.A. But the cold snap turned the rain into snow and hail, she added.

Did you see any snow? I spent most of Wednesday at the TV Critics Assn. press tour in Pasadena, where we didn't get snow (although the mountains that tower over the city are now definitely capped with the white stuff).

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