Rare spring snowstorm hits Southern California

A spring storm brought tons of snowfall to Southern California for a rare taste of wintertime in May.

Heavy overnight storms created wet, slushy road conditions for mountain residents, catching many off guard. Running Springs received around three inches of snow, while some areas of Mt. Baldy saw up to eight inches of snow.

Don Marquez, who was visiting Running Springs from Los Angeles, was completely unprepared for the winter weather.

“This isn’t the easiest thing to do,” said Marquez while chaining up his tires in the wet weather.

Marquez was in Running Springs and decided to head back down the mountain on Wednesday. Little did he know, the area would be completely covered with snow.

With the spring season in full bloom, experts say the overnight storm activity is actually quite rare to experience in May.

“It’s rare. We don’t see another storm like this on the horizon,” said Alex Tardy with the National Weather Service. “This probably was an anomaly, kind of a one-and-done storm.”

Although brief, the storm was heavy enough to blanket mountain roads, creating hazardous conditions for drivers.

Earlier on Thursday along Highway 173 in Lake Arrowhead, a driver lost control and was hospitalized after a rollover crash. Along Highway 18, several commercial trucks were also stuck due to snowy roads.

However, Helene Forman, a Running Springs resident, said she’s not worried about the cleanup on Thursday after surviving the historic winter storms earlier this year, in what she has dubbed, “Snowmaggedon.”

“This is going to melt in no time, not going to be a whole lot of shoveling,” said Forman. “This is actually nothing because we all survived the 12 feet of snow. It was epic. It was like nothing I’ve seen in the 20 years I’ve been here.”

Forecasters said because the winter storms were so unusually active in SoCal this year, it wouldn’t be surprising to see at least one more storm this month.