Snow in Los Angeles: Burbank, Universal City See Flurries (Photos)

Categories: Environment

burbank snow bowtothecrown.JPG
bowtothecrown
Snow in Burbank.
Updated after the jump: There seems to be some debate about whether the white stuff is snow or "graupel."

Snow in Los Angeles? Looks like it. The National Weather Service told us there was an outside chance as the snow level for metro L.A. fell to 1,500 Saturday. It happened:

burbank snow @writepudding.JPG
Liana Aghajanian
Snow covers a Burbank street.

Burbank was covered in white stuff after a flurry late Saturday afternoon. It was just a dusting, but it stuck.

Residents and workers in the area told KTLA News that it was genuine soft stuff -- not hail. Footage from the station seemed to prove that assertion.

It snowed briefly in nearby in Universal City, too, city Councilman Tom LaBonge told KNX 1070 Newsradio. He said the last time it snowed in the area was 1949.

burbank snow mwshaw.JPG
mwshaw
It never snows in L.A?

Will it make Sunday's Academy Awards' red carpet in Hollywood white? Doubt it.

The winter storm warning for the area expires at 9 p.m.

burbank snow footprints e-geniuses.JPG
E-Geniuses
Snow or graupel in Burbank?

Update: Saturday night news programs split on whether the news was snow or "graupel," which the American Meteorology Society defines as "... heavily rimed snow particles, often called snow pellets."

We'll let Wikipedia take it from here:

Contact between a snow crystal and the supercooled droplets results in freezing of the liquid droplets onto the surface of the crystal. This process of crystal growth is known as accretion. Crystals that exhibit frozen droplets on their surfaces are referred to as rimed. When this process continues so that the shape of the original snow crystal is no longer identifiable, the resulting crystal is referred to as graupel.
burbank snow graupel e-geniuses.JPG
E-Geniuses
A graupel wonderland in Burbank?
CBS2 stated that the National Weather Service says it was in fact "graupel," not snow. Other stations, including ABC7, stuck with snow. (NBC4's website also goes with graupel).

First posted at 6:20 p.m. Saturday.

-With reporting from City News Service. Got news? Email us. Follow us on Twitter, too: @dennisjromero.


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70 comments
Tracys2cents
Tracys2cents

Put a big ice cube on top of a basketball. Set it out in the sun. See what happens? As the ice melts, the whole basketball gets cold for a while. This is the cooling period as global warming takes hold. As the ice melts more and more on top, the ball gets cooler and cooler with the cold water flowing downward. Eventually the ice is all melted. The ball, still sitting in the hot sun, starts to dry and up and get hot. There is no saving it now, no more ice to melt. That's global-basketball warming.

dumdums
dumdums

If this is global warming then so be it... we are too late and we are all going to fall apart. be real people. We havn't recorded wheather patterns long enough to know what "ice age cycles" really take place. Here is a rule that everyone should live by... if a democrat said it don't believe it. If a republican said it, look at what the democrats are saying about it and you'll find the truth some where in the middle. And on a second note, i am from colorado....it was snow in some parts and hail in others. everyone in LA knows that when in rains in the valley its sunny at the beaches.

Finn
Finn

It is snow. Greetings from Finland!

Kolpikinna
Kolpikinna

We got the same white thing here too, about one metre. Soon it will melt away and the trouble with the green thing starts again....... from finland.

FREEDER60
FREEDER60

This was definitely snow not graupel. I lived in the snow for 18 yrs to know the difference.

Jemsan
Jemsan

it flippin snowed on kenwood dr between burbank and chandler it was not "graupel" jt brbnk

Marcy
Marcy

Came for the utterly clueless "It snowed, so global warming must be a lie" comments, left satisfied.

Newsflash...it IS winter. Even here in southern California.

Notsnow
Notsnow

Definitely wasn't snow. It is probably best categorized as graupel (sometimes called "soft hail"), but I drove through parts that were definitely full-fleged hail. Not only was it more than 50F degrees, but snow, sleet, ice-pellets, and graupel do not sound like marbles landing on your car, and do not leave welts on your back ( I had to get out to see for myself). Verga is often associated with convective activity (updrafts and downdrafts from hot-cold cycles), and, being an instrument rated pilot, I recognize verga when I see it, and it was clearly visible on the edges of the "snow" cloud. Hail does not indicate a cold surface temperatures... In fact, it is more likely to occur in the warmer months when convective activity is more pronounced. Since the icy precip yesterday was miss-embraced as "snow" makes one wonder if the others on record in LA (1949 and 1962, so I've read) were the same.

Not Snow
Not Snow

Definitely wasn't snow. It is probably best categorized as graupel (sometimes called "soft hail"), but I drove through parts that were definitely full-fleged hail. Not only was it more than 50F degrees, but snow, sleet, ice-pellets, and graupel do not sound like marbles landing on your car, and do not leave welts on your back ( I had to get out to see for myself). Verga is often associated with convective activity (updrafts and downdrafts from hot-cold cycles), and, being an instrument rated pilot, I recognize verga when I see it, and it was clearly visible on the edges of the "snow" cloud. Hail does not indicate a cold surface temperatures... In fact, it is more likely to occur in the warmer months when convective activity is more pronounced. Since the icy precip yesterday was miss-embraced as "snow" makes one wonder if the others on record in LA (1949 and 1962, so I've read) were the same.

snakeboarder
snakeboarder

Skiers and Snowboarders often refer to graupel as "popcorn snow".

JK
JK

Ahhhh! Global warming is coming!

Oh wait....

Mdbrodowy
Mdbrodowy

You should see the snow in Tucson! White Suguaros.

Mokibobolink
Mokibobolink

I loved it! Being from Florida originally and then moving to SoCal, I never thought I'd see snow in my yard in my life. But it happened and I have pics to prove it. Best day ever!

Riina
Riina

I bet that's nice for people who have maybe never seen snow... this was Helsinki, capital of Finland, in February 2010: http://suomenkuvalehti.fi/s/me... .

I hope I can get out of here quickly and come to LA! Lets hope its not snowing then :D

Tarja Hakala
Tarja Hakala

Nice, but we have here in Finland more snow!

Mlovett
Mlovett

i could give you more frome poland !

Wow
Wow

No one fives a shit about Poland

Laura McD
Laura McD

Hey I live in Massachusetts - we would be HAPPY to send you some of our snowfall.

Joe4re
Joe4re

I live in Burbank an we still have snow on our roof and lawn from yesterday. VERY COOL.

Zippymama
Zippymama

GYThat's the snow we were promised by the weatherman in Fresno. At least now I know where it went, lol!

Halle
Halle

In your face Compton!

Antti Rajaranta
Antti Rajaranta

This is not necessarily because of the global warming. Last time it snowed in LA was 1960. These kinda random changes dont mean a thing.

Queenno1
Queenno1

haha so much for global warming

Starcrystal7
Starcrystal7

Hey guys I'm an ex-model wanting to rejuvenate my super star career plus I have a 5 Yr old son who i can prime for the acting lifestyle. I'm interested in maybe relocating there from KY but all this weird weather & global malfunctions r making me want to stay close to mommy (jk but really) lol what "yall" think :-)?

Ale Ian
Ale Ian

send noods and I'll tell you what I think. :P

me
me

it cool in all but just wait this is going to be normal soon, what i think and believe well happen, the world is going to be upside down soon..

Dann
Dann

It was pretty cool. I live in Burbank. I never expected this to happen. Fist time I“ve touched snow in my life.

gt
gt

Then you still haven't. It wasn't snow. It wasn't even a type of snow. It was hail/ice pellets/graupel. I heard it in my car, and felt it on my head. Snow doesn't do that. Snow is a crystal with six sides. There were no snow flakes in Burbank.

Smfalah81
Smfalah81

Global warming it's a lie created by the go green movement for money.

Edgar901240
Edgar901240

Just because corporations saw Global warming as a means to fill up their wallets, that doesn't mean that the subject is a lie. Just like any other humanitarian cause out there, there is always a greedy group of people that are thinking of ways to make more money. Unfortunately, the environment is very dear to some people so its easy for corporations to exploit it and use it to their own advantage.

Ron Dennis Wheeler
Ron Dennis Wheeler

In Revelations it says quiet a bit about strange weather in diverse places at the end times! Wars and rumors of wars. Peace for Israel is thought to be near but deceit is to destroy. Makes one wonder!!!!

Glen
Glen

It was 51 degrees on the 101, and the sound it made on my car was like rocks falling out of the sky. It was not snow, but hail.

Andeymc
Andeymc

Wrong. It was sleet and graupel.

Glen
Glen

Graupel includes hail and ice pellets. The only difference being the number of times they cycle aloft. From where I was on the 101 (east of Topanga Canyon, west of Hollywood) there was lots of verga present, which indicates at least a minor amount of convective movement, which is required for hail. Regardless, whether the icy stuff was hail, graupel, or ice pellets, it was definitely not snow.

Sarcastic Pancho
Sarcastic Pancho

Damn those liberals with their progressive way of thinking!! Makes me sick to my stomach!! Conservatives....now that's where it's at! Such intelligent closed minded geniuses those conservatives are!! Geez...I miss Bush Jr.... Now that's a smart man!!! =P

yahoo-MRCNZ42NCEC7YZ3ZLVB53MZVUY
yahoo-MRCNZ42NCEC7YZ3ZLVB53MZVUY

what a bummer that is! My dream is to retire to NO snow. I thought that would have been impossible to snow in LA.stuck in snow in south dakota

Bobby
Bobby

Not buying it! Was nice and sunny in Burbank today. Hum

Mpdsapuser
Mpdsapuser

Climate change is natural. But you liberals think its man made.

hot'n cold
hot'n cold

Climate change is natural, yes. BUT normally it would happen within 3000-5000 years. Now because we burn fossil fuels so much the same thing is happening within a one hundred years. So be proud of your silly politics as WE ( humans) are making the speed up. Oh and global warming makes extreme weather to occur more often, so hope you like the tornados and tropical storms as well as blizzards and such.

Edgar901240
Edgar901240

Although the climate changes naturally and has been doing so for billions of years, the argument behind climate change is not exactly that humans are behind these changes 100%. If you would bother to fully understand this topic you would know that the argument for global warming is that humans would eventually burn enough fossil fuels to cause a dramatic impact on the climate thus changing the world's weather patterns more than it would have done on its own. In other words, we are currently not necessarily the cause of the problem, but we are not helping either however, at some point in the future we will. Its basic science, but of course i wouldn't expect someone like you to understand.

Blsolar
Blsolar

@Mpdsapuser: Ok, not really the forum for politics, but since you started it...When there are fossil fuels buried in the earth for MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of years, and suddenly within a span of about 200 years (a grain of time in history of the Earth) BILLIONS AND BILLIONS of tons are burned off into the atmosphere, can you really say with a straight face that changes we are seeing in the atmosphere now are not being caused by humans? Yes, you are much smarter than 90+% of the scientific community. Silly liberals.

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