Friday, Dec. 20, 2002 | 11:48 a.m.
The latest in a series of storms to sweep through California will bring light, steady rain Saturday to coastal and inland areas and snow in the mountains just in time for Christmas, forecasters said.
Much of the state remains saturated from a storm that delivered gale-force winds and snow to the coastal mountains in Northern California on Thursday, before moving into Southern California on Friday where it brought moderate amounts of rain and high surf warnings.
Partly sunny skies and cool temperatures in Southern California marked the respite between the storms. The National Weather Service reported a high temperature of 60 degrees for Los Angeles on Friday, which is 8 degrees below normal.
Forecasters said the last storm and another pair expected to begin arriving Saturday are weaker, but colder, than a fierce squall that pounded the state earlier this week.
"We have definitely already seen the worst of it," NWS forecaster Will Pi said. "I think Saturday we'll still have some showers around, but by Sunday we should be drying out."
Winter officially begins at 5:14 p.m. Saturday. The weather service has forecast dryness on Sunday and Monday, but the rain likely will return for Tuesday, Christmas Day and Thursday.
Snowfall early Friday forced the closure of Interstate 5 in both directions through the Grapevine north of Los Angeles. The California Highway Patrol reopened the freeway about 6:45 a.m. and provided escorts for motorists driving over the summit of Tejon Pass.
In Culver City, a man driving too fast on a rain-slicked street lost control of his vehicle Friday about 1:30 a.m. He crashed into a utility pole and was killed, police said.
A woman on the southbound 110 Freeway in Highland Park also spun out of control about 7 a.m., struck a light pole and was killed. It was unclear whether it was raining at the time, but CHP officials said the roadway was wet.
San Francisco recorded 1.34 inches of rain Thursday and already has taken more than 8 inches of rain this month, NWS forecaster Mark Lenz said. Downtown Los Angeles received 1.2 inches of rain while other parts of the region registered more than 2 inches.
Snow levels in the Sierras were expected to be contained between the 3,000- and 4,000-foot levels for the region.
In Southern California, the weak but cold storm was expected to lower the snow level to as low as 3,500-feet with light snow possible in the foothills of the Antelope Valley. Ski resorts in the area could expect a fresh 4 to 8 inches of snow above the 4,000 feet level.
By Friday afternoon, Pacific Gas and Electric Company's service area had nearly finished restoring power to all of the 2.2 million customers who found themselves in the dark after the first storm swept through Dec. 13.
The utility had only 17,000 customers left to restore power to before the new storm cranked up Thursday and knocked out power to an additional 285,491 customers.
PG&E officials said power had been restored to most of those customers by Friday afternoon.
The NWS also issued a high surf advisory through Saturday for coastal waters south of Point Conception after outer water buoys reported swells of 18 to 22 feet. Surf also is expected to increase by 12 to 16 feet, the weather service said.
High surf also was expected in the San Diego area, which prompted the weather service to warn people from watching the waves from piers, jetties or rocks.
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