A winter storm has dropped snow at startlingly low elevations across Southern California on Wednesday, stranding hundreds of motorists on steep mountain roads.
About 300 cars were stuck Highways 330 and 18 in Big Bear as snow began piling up from the storm, California Highway Patrol Officer Marcelo Llerena told the Los Angeles Times. Around 175 vehicles were eventually towed and will be picked up later by their owners.
About 130 people were also stuck along Highway 138, but firefighters were able to rescue all of them.
The National Weather Service initially forecast snow at elevations as low as 2,000 feet, but the service later said that snow had dropped on areas as low as 1,000 feet, with accumulations east and southeast of Los Angeles in communities such as Temecula, Murrieta, Wildomar, and Temescal Valley.
Many residents of the suburbs north of San Diego have seen snow before but only on wintertime trips to the mountains to go skiing or sledding — not at their front door.
In Temecula, people snapped photos of the snow-covered lawn outside City Hall and kids threw snowballs.
City Manager Aaron Adams said his 12- and 14-year-old daughters were sledding down the hill outside his home on bodyboards usually reserved for the beach or pool. He said he’s never seen as much snow — half a foot in some places — in the two decades he’s lived there.
