High temperatures in Riverside on Sunday were about 5 degrees higher than the day before when what was billed as possibly the coldest storm in a decade whipped through with wind, rain and snow levels that dropped to about 2,500 feet.
Riverside reached 54 degrees Saturday, 15 degrees cooler than the mean high temperature for Feb. 26.
Big winners in the storm were Southern California ski resorts, which have suffered through an erratic season. The twin resorts of Bear Mountain and Snow Summit in Big Bear received about 30 inches of snow this weekend, as did Mt. Baldy. Mountain High in Wrightwood got about 26 inches.
"It's been a roller coaster this year," said Chris Riddle, director of marketing at Big Bear Mountain Resorts. "It started out great in November, then we had all the rain in December and the heat in January. Now we're back to where it should be, with excellent winter conditions."
It didn't take long to get the word out to skiers, snowboarders and others seeking winter play opportunities.
By 9:30 a.m. Sunday, a 10-mile line of cars stretched from Big Pines across Highway 2 from the Mountain High West Resort, through the town of Wrightwood and onto Highway 138. Every nook and cranny along Highway 2 big enough to fit a car was filled with mountain visitors looking to ride a sled or throw a snowball.
Chain controls remained in effect for several stretches of mountain roads Sunday morning and may remain a good idea for the morning hours all this week, as overnight temperatures in the higher elevations are forecast to dip well below freezing.
Daytime temperatures, meanwhile, should stay consistently pleasant through the rest of the week in the Inland valleys, according to the National Weather Service in San Diego. Highs are forecast to reach the mid 60s through Thursday, with overnight lows in the mid 40s for the Riverside area.
Daytime temperatures are also forecast to reach the 60s in Temecula and Hemet, with overnight lows forecast to stay around 40. In the low desert, daytime temperatures could brush 70 degrees later this week, with overnight lows in the upper 40s.
The only possible meteorological glitch for the week, according to forecasters, is the chance of partly cloudy skies on Wednesday and Thursday.
Other than a power outage that affected about 5,000 residents in the Crestline and Lake Arrowhead area, no significant problems from the storm were reported.
About 1,900 customers remained without power in those San Bernardino Mountains communities Sunday afternoon, with no time estimate on restoration, said Lauren Bartlett, a spokeswoman for Southern California Edison.
The cause of the outage has not been determined.
Russ Barrett of Newell Nursery in Yucaipa said the business prepared for the cold Saturday by bundling plants and placing them under eaves and other cover. Sleet and snow fell on the nursery about 3 p.m. Saturday, he said, but quickly melted causing no damage to the nursery's stock.
Despite talk of bone-chilling cold borne by the storm, only one temperature record was broken Saturday. That was at Lake Arrowhead, which reached a daytime high of 26 degrees, besting the old record of 27 degrees set on the same date in 1962, according to the National Weather Service.
The storm dropped 2.43 inches of rain in Devore, 0.95 in Riverside, 1.85 in Temecula and 1.74 inches in Beaumont, according to the Weather Service. Idyllwild got 13 inches of snow, while Pine Cove recorded just under 2 feet.
Reach David Keck at dkeck@PE.com or 951-368-9465.
source: www.pe.com
