Blizzard warning issued for L.A. County mountains for first time in decades as Southern California prepares for rare winter storms

Forecasters have issued blizzard and winter storm warnings for parts of Southern California as large swaths of the state prepare for incoming snow. 

A winter storm warning is in effect for the Ventura County and Los Angeles County mountains until 4 a.m. local time Friday. A blizzard warning is in effect from 4 a.m. Friday to 4 p.m. Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. 

It marks the first time since 1989 that the weather service issued a blizzard warning for the Southern California mountains. 

Forecasters predict “multiple rounds” of snow, with accumulations of up to 3 to 5 feet predicted for the Sierra Nevada region.

Snow was also expected over some lower foothills and valley areas near the Pacific Coast, the weather service said, “given the depth of cold air that has infiltrated the West.”

“On Thursday and Friday, the heavy snowfall threat across the West should become more centered over California as a new storm system developing just off the West Coast drops south and begins to edge into the Southwest for the end of the week,” forecasters said. 

According to CBS Los Angeles, some regions that could experience rare snowfall include:

• the high desert like the Mojave Desert
• nearly all foothill areas
• a large portion of the Inland Empire
• the Santa Clarita Valley

Winter storms have sowed chaos across the U.S. this week, bringing heavy snow to places that rarely see it, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and grounding or delaying thousands of flights.

Much of Portland was shut down after the city experienced its second snowiest day in history and travel was paralyzed from parts of the Pacific Coast all the way to the northern Plains.

The nearly 11 inches of snow that fell in Portland stalled traffic during the Wednesday evening rush and trapped drivers on freeways. Some spent the night in their vehicles or abandoned them altogether as crews struggled to clear roads.