Snow to low levels in Los Angeles
California is in the grip of what seems an endless stream of winter storms, and the latest has delivered snow to low levels in and around Los Angeles, including to the iconic Hollywood sign.
As anyone who has flown in or out of LA knows, the city is flanked by very high snowy mountains, including the San Gabriel and San Bernadino ranges, both of which rise to over 3000 metres. For comparison, Australia's highest peak Mt Kosciuszko is just 2228 metres.
Los Angeles blizzard 2023
— Brandon Yoshizawa (@bay_photography) February 28, 2023
Lowest snow levels I’ve ever seen
Torrance refinery - Los Angeles skyline - snow capped San Gabriel Mountains pic.twitter.com/b1dPAHwuaZ
But only very rarely over the years has snow been reported in downtown Los Angeles, which sits around 100 metres above sea level.
The Hollywood sign sits at 480 metres, near the top of Mt Lee at 520 metres, and that seems to be about the level to which this week's snow has fallen.
Snow and the Hollywood sign #LosAngeles pic.twitter.com/rapUupN3Tk
— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) March 1, 2023
So while coastal and downtown LA haven't seen snow this week, spectacular images have emerged of the city's higher suburbs and nearby hills.
Pretty cool rare shot of Hollywood sign in front of snow-covered mountains (Mario Tama/Getty) pic.twitter.com/p4BsoKdU4G
— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) March 2, 2023
The snow was accompanied by strong winds and there was also exceptionally heavy rain. You know that giant stormwater canal where they've filmed loads of car race scenes in movies like Grease? That's actually the LA River and last weekend it looked like this.
The usually dry Los Angeles Riverpic.twitter.com/A6sJqqWqCE
— Alfons López Tena 🦇 (@alfonslopeztena) February 25, 2023
You can see the latest storm's relentless moisture feed in the video below.
The ongoing storm is one of the most impressive in history for the southern 1/3 of California.
— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) February 25, 2023
- @mthigh saw 65" of snow in 24 hours (2" shy of CA record)
- All-time rainfall records set in San Joaquin Valley
- 5-10" of rain in Hollywood area
- Accumulating snow down to 1,000' pic.twitter.com/dOspC0GT3j
There were even reports of snow at Disneyland, although with the theme park's elevation of just 40 metres in the suburb of Anaheim, it was more likely "graupel" – a type of hail which falls in soft pellets, as you can see on the person’s outstretched hand in the vide below.
This is not a drill! IT IS FREAKIN SNOWING AT DISNEYLAND! pic.twitter.com/YjjPPtNS2W
— Attraction Faction (@AttractFaction) March 1, 2023
As you'd expect, California's 33 ski resorts are enjoying a bumper season. At Kirkwood, near Lake Tahoe, they reported a mindboggling 107 inches (2.7 metres) of snow in the last week and 526 (13 metres) for the season to date.
No, that's not a typo. Thirteen metres of snow have fallen in the winter season of 2022/23 to date, and while that snow obviously compacts, there is still a reported base of 174 inches (4.4 metres), which is a seriously deep snowpack.
California has of course been in severe drought for years, with only 16.6% of the state currently drought-free. This recent storm, plus several more earlier this winter*, will likely ease that situation to some degree as America moves into spring.
*Australia's BoM classifies the seasons by months, whereas in America, seasons are defined by the period between solstices and equinoxes. So the current US winter is Dec 21, 2022 to Mar 20, 2023, meaning it is still winter by their definition.