May 23, 2008 11:42 pm US/Pacific
SoCal Skiers Will Have Great Memorial Day Weekend
SIERRA MADRE (AP) ―
It's been a soggy start to a Memorial Day weekend in Southern California.
A new round of stormy weather Friday has sent mud oozing down some Sierra Madre streets and has covered some mountain communities with snow and other areas with rain.
Stuart Seto of the National Weather Service in Oxnard says mountains and foothills have recorded 1 to 2 inches of rain since Thursday and it's been falling heavily at times.
Some 2 inches of snow frosted trees in Wrightwood, a ski resort east of Los Angeles, where just last week the temperature hit 90 degrees.
Residents of a foothill neighborhood in Sierra Madre are keeping a close eye on the hillsides after two overnight mudslides forced the closure of two roads.
Crews cleaned up the first mudslide at about 1 a.m. Friday only to have more mud and debris wash down about two hours later. Officials say no homes are in immediate danger, but a voluntary evacuation remains in effect.
Many homes are sitting in the canyon northeast of Los Angeles below a huge area that was denuded by a recent wildfire. Residents of those homes were urged to leave Thursday night when a thunderstorm pounded the hillsides, but Carlson says few did.
Carlson says no homes are in immediate danger but there's a chance of more rain coming in to loosen the hillside.
The chilly weather comes from a low-pressure system that a day earlier unleashed wild weather with rain, hail and even twin tornadoes in Riverside County.
The National Weather Service is predicting a 20 to 40 percent chance of storms in Southern California through the day.
Light rain has fallen in a few areas but it should be nothing like the lightning, thunder, tornadoes, snow, hail, wind and other weather that hit the region on Thursday.
Seto says the weather is expected to continue unsettled through Saturday before clearing.
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