Storm Brings Snow, Rain to Valley Area

Sheets of snow and rain, driven by icy blasts of wind, combined in a brief storm Wednesday that closed roads north of the city, dropped 3 inches of powder in the High Desert, crowded homeless shelters to their limits and sent motorists skidding until blue sky broke through in the afternoon.

The storm that raked Los Angeles County on Wednesday morning inflicted new, if brief, inconveniences on a region recently battered by gale-force winds.

In the Antelope Valley, up to 3 inches of snow frosted Joshua trees and blanketed streets, catching residents by surprise.

“This morning we were hit hard by a rush on tire chains,” said Alan Thies, assistant manager at the Pep Boys automotive store in Lancaster. “We weren’t expecting this storm.”

“Usually the snow drops and melts. Today it seems to be sticking,” said California Highway Patrol Officer Jesus Juarez, who is based in the High Desert. “Every time it starts to melt, it starts to snow again.”

While the showers were not blamed for any fatal accidents, they kept law enforcement agencies and emergency crews busy throughout the region.

“We have had [freeway] accidents on the 5, on the 60, the 210, the 710, the 91,” Los Angeles County Firefighter Nancy Stroud said in the afternoon. “You pick a freeway and we have had an accident on it.”

The CHP shut down Interstate 5 in the Tejon Pass, about 50 miles north of the San Fernando Valley, from before daybreak to 11:30 a.m. and escorted traffic on the Antelope Valley Freeway. Two flying schools based at Fox Airfield in Lancaster canceled lessons for the day.

And teenagers in the Antelope Valley Union High School District got a break when administrators sent students home shortly after noon because of the inclement weather.

“We’ve lived here 10 years and the snow is still fun for us,” said Mary Conklin, 14, a freshman who was busy hurling snowballs at her older sister in a field across from their Lancaster home.

Throughout Los Angeles County, CHP officers recorded more than 300 freeway accidents in eight hours Wednesday morning during the height of the rain, including about 90 during the morning rush hour, a greater volume than usual but moderate for rainy days, officials said.

“On a normal day, we have an average of 35 to 40 accidents” during the morning rush hour, said CHP Officer Rhett Price. “So this is about double, which is to be expected” in a storm, he said.

Motorists drove gingerly through flooded intersections, such as the one at Sherman Way and Sherman Place in West Hills. The water may have backed up because some storm drains were choked with branches and leaves shed by hundreds of trees that toppled during last week’s severe windstorm, city officials said.

“After the first day it rains, people usually get used to the roads,” said Los Angeles Police Officer Bill Mulvihill. “It’s on the first day when all the oil and dirt is out there on the roads that people start slipping and sliding.”

Nearly an inch of rain fell in Burbank, said John Sherwin, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. Woodland Hills reported three-quarters of an inch.

The wet weather, accompanied by temperatures that plummeted to 43 degrees in Van Nuys and a frigid 35 in Newhall, spelled greater misery for Los Angeles-area residents who don’t drive the streets, but try to live on them. Hundreds of homeless people flocked to National Guard armories and other shelter sites, straining already limited resources.

“We have 200 beds, and they are all taken,” said Joe Zuniga, executive assistant at the Valley Shelter in North Hollywood.

“Everyone’s up to capacity. A few are having to refer to other agencies that have beds available,” said Melanie Singer, program manager for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, a city-county agency that administers 2,400 beds throughout the county.

Many shelters are open only at night, leaving their clients to seek warmth elsewhere during the day.

“They go into hallways and doors, under buildings, in alleys with awnings, into public places, libraries--as many people as there are, that’s how many creative ideas they have,” Singer said.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said swift-water rescue teams had been deployed to creeks and channels.

“People romanticize the idea of watching water run through the creek, but we’re reminding [them] the water in these areas can move at diabolical speeds,” approaching 45 mph, Humphrey said.

“And even a strapping, physically fit individual would have trouble standing in water that is at mid-calf. And if it gets to your knees, forget it. That’s it.”

Rescue teams, he said, were stationed at four sites--West Los Angeles, Van Nuys, Studio City and Mt. Washington--along the 470 miles of open channels that include the Los Angeles River.

Scattered showers are expected through this morning, particularly in higher-altitude areas, “but the Valley should be dry by afternoon,” Sherwin said.

High temperatures today should reach the upper 50s, Sherwin said. Overnight lows will range from the upper 30s to lower 40s.

“Our next shot of any precipitation in Southern California could be Monday,” but it is too soon to say with any certainty, Sherwin said.

Chu is a Times staff writer and Sandoval a correspondent. Times staff writer Frank B. Williams contributed to this story.