Blizzard Warning issued for Southern California mountains

A major winter storm will slam Southern California with heavy mountain snow and damaging wind gusts.

These combined conditions (snow and wind) are expected to bring blizzard conditions to the Southern California mountains in Los Angeles and Ventura counties from Friday through Saturday.

Because of the forecast of blizzard conditions, the National Weather Service issued a Blizzard Warning from 4 a.m. Friday until 4 p.m. Saturday for these mountains. Areas within the Blizzard Warning can expect winds gusting up to 75 mph along with heavy snow that will reduce visibility to near zero.

Current weather alerts for Southern California

Maximum wind gust forecast

The snow will be quite heavy and snow rates could exceed 2 inches per hour at times. By the end of the weekend, 3-6 feet of snow could fall for the highest peaks above 4,000 feet. Even the lower mountains and foothills will see accumulating snow with snow levels dropping down to 1,000 feet on Saturday. Half a foot to a foot of snow can be expected in these areas. Travel will become treacherous if not completely impossible.

Snow accumulation forecast

If a Blizzard Warning sounds odd to you for Southern California, you're right. This is the first Blizzard Warning for the Southern California mountains since February of 1989.

For the basin, including the city of Los Angeles, heavy rain is a concern and flooding is possible. 2-5 inches of rain is expected for the city and surrounding areas. A Flood Watch goes into effect Friday morning continuing into Saturday.

Rain accumulation forecast