Snow! Cold Storm Drops Several Inches of Powder Near Lake Elsinore

PHOTO: This Screenshot via Fox 11 News shows snow blanketing Southwest Riverside County on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014.

A cold storm from Canada Tuesday night brought snow to Riverside County mountains and some lower lying areas of the region that do not normally get snow— including Southwest Riverside County.

The National Weather Service tells Patch that snow fell to as low as 1,000 to 1,200 feet, with an estimated 6-10 inches of snowfall in the Lake Elsinore region overnight. They also provided the following snowfall numbers for Southwest Riverside County:

• LA CARISO VILLAGE, SOUTH OF LAKE ELSINORE: 10 inches
• FRENCH VALLEY AIRPORT: 2 to 2.5 inches
• HORSETHIEF CANYON, 8 MILES NORTHWEST OF LAKE ELSINORE: 6 inches estimated by a spotter
• TEMECULA: 2-3 of “heavy wet snow” on the south side of town
• MURRIETA: 1.5 inches

Lake Elsinore-Wildomar Patch readers say they were hit with snow beginning Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. If you got snow where you live, tell us in the comments— and better yet, post you pictures there, too!

“The last comparable snow level to where it go this low was Jan. 2013,” National Weather Service Meteorologist James Thomas tells Patch. ”It wasn’t as significant... but that is the last time a similar storm [passed through].”

Thomas said the rain and snow are now done for the area, but cool temperatures are expected to linger through New Year’s Day, before it warms up this weekend.

“We’re done with the rain and snow for at least the next seven days,” he said. “The big story now is going to be the temperature and how cool they are there.”

The California Highway Patrol overnight closed Ortega Highway between Nichols in Orange County and Grand Avenue in Riverside County due to snow on the roadway. The agency also reported that snow was sticking to Interstate 215 at Clinton Keith Road early Wednesday.

Snow levels early Wednesday sat between 2,000-2,500 feet, though locally it dipped down to 1,200 feet in the Inland Empire, according to the Weather Service.

According to the National Weather Service, the storm brought the following snow amounts to our nearby mountains:

• BIG BEAR: 12 inches
• IDYWILLD: 8 inches
• LAKE ARROWHEAD: 5-6 inches
• PALOMAR MOUNTAIN: 12 inches

The low temperature was around 30 degrees between 2,000 and 3,000 feet, and in the teens in the higher mountains, with wind chill values below zero at times, the NWS said.

The northern mountains and Inland Empire were also buffeted by sustained northeast winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour and gusts up to 50 mph, according to the Weather Service, which said there were slightly weaker winds in the southern mountains.