Small But Mighty Winter Storm Rolling Toward Southland

Another in a series of small but mighty winter storms is about to unwind over Southern California, but exact predictions about this storm are dicey, a meteorologist said Sunday.

A cut-off low is the weatherman's woe, "and we are doing a lot of crying right now," joked National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist David Sweet.

Such a description defines the weather pattern that deposits a spinning storm system over Southern California, cut off from the high-altitude jet stream winds that generally sweep from west to east across this continent.

The latest cut-off low storm should bring rain and snow, starting late Sunday night or early Monday. Snow could affect travel along the Grapevine section of Interstate 5 by Monday afternoon, said Sweet in an interview with City News Service.

By late Sunday or early Monday, snow is expected at elevations of about 5,000 feet and higher, lowering to about 3,500 feet by the time the weather system moves east later Monday.

The two major freeway passes into and out of Southern California—Cajon Pass near San Bernardino and the Grapevine's Tejon Summit—both top out at more than 4,000 feet.

"By Monday afternoon we could be looking at some snowflakes falling on the Grapevine, and then by Monday night there is a chance for some significant accumulations," Sweet said.

The Antelope Valley Freeway over the 3,258-foot-high Escondido Summit at Acton should escape the snow, according to the NWS. But in the high country, as much as 10 inches of snow could fall.

Thanks to a couple of early-season rains, the Los Angeles is ahead of its seasonal rainfall norm so far, with about 2.75 cumulative inches at the USC weather station since July 1. The Los Angeles Basin historically averages about 15 inches of rain per year.

—City News Service