LOS ANGELES — A storm system for the ages passed through Southern California on Saturday, dumping piles of snow in lower-elevation communities, closing key roads and leaving residents used to the region’s dry, warm climate with a rare sense of icy wonder.
The frigid conditions dropped the snow level to 1,500 or less on Saturday, enough for snowball fights, snowman building and the unusual sight of foothills covered with a white dusting. Mountain communities were slammed by intense snowfall.
“This has been one of the more impressive storms in the last few years here in Southern California,” said Rich Thompson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, particularly because of its rainfall records and low-snow levels, including reports of flurries at the Hollywood sign Thursday. “It’s a storm we haven’t seen very often in our careers here so far.”
