The winter storm that brought chilly weather to Southern California over the weekend will move out of the area starting Tuesday, meteorologists said, and that’s setting the region up for a slight warm-up over the rest of the week.
The higher temperatures will come courtesy of strong Santa Ana winds starting immediately after the storm leaves, according to forecasters in the National Weather Service’s Los Angeles office.
Mornings will remain cold, they said, but daytime temperatures will rise into the 60s through Wednesday. The winds could be powerful enough to cause light damage around the region.
The Santa Ana winds “will dry us out quickly, and push daytime temperatures into the 60s south and west of the mountains,” forecasters said. “Would expect a few extra power outages and a weakly rooted tree or two to come down.”
Through the weekend and Monday, the recent storms dumped nothing like the amount of precipitation the greater L.A. area saw over the last month. But unlike earlier in January, temperatures were low enough to allow snow to fall in the region’s mountainous areas.
Forecasters said locals could expect snow levels to drop to as low as 2,500 to 3,000 feet. That means the Grapevine and parts of the San Gabriel Mountains could see two to three inches of snow fall by Tuesday morning.
Anyone driving in wintery, snowy conditions should take extra precautions, the NWS said.
“The low snow-levels will likely result in some hazardous winter driving conditions for mountain roads as well as the Antelope Valley foothills (and possibly the valley floor) through Monday,” the NWS said.
Winter weather advisories were in affect for L.A. County foothill and mountain areas, while a storm warning was in effect for the San Bernardino Mountains. In Orange County and across the Inland Empire, warnings were also in effect for wind gusts across the area.
