Between Thursday and Friday, a winter storm reached California, affecting areas where no similar storm had occurred in decades. In the mountains around Los Angeles, in particular, the first blizzard warning has been issued since 1989: expected a meter and a half of snow and very strong winds. In the meantime, it has already started to snow in some areas of the city with a traditionally very mild climate, such as Hollywood.
The National Weather Service has advised mountain dwellers around Los Angeles to stay indoors, and the winter storm has already caused traffic shutdowns in several areas. The Grapevine, a mountain pass north of Los Angeles, remained closed for more than 12 hours; also near Los Angeles, the traffic police closed a section of Interstate 5, the road that goes from Mexico to Canada via California.
In the San Bernardino Mountains, a mountain range about 140 kilometers from Los Angeles, snow has covered the roads and almost submerged parked cars. In Los Angeles County, the National Weather Service also forecasts possible flooding in urban areas and highways. Meanwhile, in southeast county, a tornado has already downed a few trees.
It is feared that the possible blizzard will have similar or worse effects than that of 1989, remembered for its particular intensity, as well as because it had so far been the last in the area. The snowfall it had expanded from Malibu, a coastal city in the county, to Palm Springs, beyond the San Bernardino Mountains: in the mountainous areas the snow had reached a meter in height, less than expected this time, and there had been at least 10 deaths.
In much of California, temperatures have already reached very low and historic levels: in San Francisco, around 3 degrees, the lowest temperature since 2009. Warnings have also been issued in Ventura county, which borders Los Angeles, and in the meantime the The winter storm also affected other US states, including Michigan and Nevada. The gusts of wind have led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights at airports across the United States, thousands of homes and offices have been left without power and so far at least Three people (in Michigan, Minnesota and Oregon).