SAN FRANCISCO – APRIL 11: A pedestrian walks through the rain holding an umbrella April 11, 2006 in San Francisco. The San Francisco Bay Area continues to get pounded with rain after experiencing the rainiest March on record. Rain is expected to continue through the week. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Snow and rain fell Monday on California as spring delivered the kind of stormy weather that was missing most of the winter.
Chain controls were in effect for vehicles in much of the Sierra Nevada, where weekend snow caused traffic disruptions and avalanche threats.
Winter storm warnings were in effect until late afternoon for much of the Sierra, which normally stores about a third of California’s water supply as snowpack but is well below the April average as resurgent drought and abnormal dryness encompasses two-thirds of the state.
After bringing “widespread beneficial rain” to the San Francisco Bay region on Sunday, the storm moved into eastern and southern California early Monday.
Numerous spinouts were reported on Los Angeles-area freeways, and there were scattered reports of roadway flooding and canyon road rockfalls.
Downtown Los Angeles set a rainfall record with 1.10 inches (2.79 centimeters), exceeding a mark set on the same day in 1958.
To the southeast, an evacuation warning was issued — and later canceled — near a 2018 wildfire burn scar in Riverside County due to the potential for heavy rain. A warning is one level below an evacuation order, but people who need time to leave or have pets and livestock are urged to leave right away.
U.S. & World
Significant snowfall was expected atop Southern California mountains, as much as 2 feet (0.61 meter) above 6,000 feet (1,829 meters).
