Snow in Los Angeles Region Sends Riders to Mountain High Over Weekend

Wait, you ask, summer's over? Yeah, look at the calendar. It passed more than 30 days ago.

Bummer, we know. And now this: There's going to be snow in L.A. tonight. And not the Charlie Sheen kind, either. Merry Christmas.

For real. The National Weather Service reports this afternoon that there will be ...

... hazardous winter weather conditions across the mountains of Ventura and Los Angeles Counties this afternoon and tonight.

Brrr. Snuggle up.

The snow level tonight? As low as 3,500 feet -- low enough to dust the San Gabriel Mountains, though the NWS says the Santa Monica Mountains will be spared from the white stuff.

There could be as much as 4 inches of fresh powder by morning, the service says.

And we would stay away from the Grapevine tonight, if possible. The NWS:

Roadways likely impacted by these conditions include Interstate 5 through the Grapevine as well as State Route 14 in Los Angeles County and Highway 33 in Ventura County.

Stay warm.

[Update]: The Mountain High resort in Wrightwood got the most (press) out of the storm when it opened for the season early Saturday -- one of its earliest season openings on record, according to reports. (The date to beat, apparently, was Oct. 27. Close).

Mountain High

The resort boasted that it had up to six inches of powder Saturday morning. People flocked there. Mountain High:

This makes Mountain High the first area in Southern California to open for the 15th straight year and the second in the state.

But wait, there's more:

There could be more snow this weekend, according to forecasters. Look out for another system to move in Friday night.

[Update No. 2]: Big Bear Mountain Resorts announced Monday afternoon that its local parks will open this week, giving everyone an excuse to call in sick. Bear Mountain Resort is scheduled to open Wednesday and Snow Summit Mountain Resort will follow on Thursday.

Chris Riddle, Big Bear Mountain Resort marketing honcho:

With this rare shift in the weather, we opted to fire up the snowmaking guns to give our visitors an early start to a great season. The recent temperatures are ideal for snowmaking and will be just what we need to ensure that our guests have a great opening day experience.

[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com]