A Pacific storm brought more much-needed rain and snow to California on Wednesday at the tail-end of a largely dry winter.
Winter storm warnings were in effect in the southern Cascades, down the length of the Sierra Nevada and the mountains of Southern California, the National Weather Service said. Caltrans urged drivers to check for chain controls before heading out.
Conditions included showers, downpours, thunderstorms, hail and low-elevation snow.
Mud flow off fire-scarred slopes of the Santa Ana Mountains surrounded cars and some homes in the rustic Silverado Canyon area of Orange County but no injuries were reported, Fox 11 reported.
For a time, the California Highway Patrol had to escort Interstate 5 traffic over Tejon Pass in the mountains north of Los Angeles.
To the east, heavy snow was reported on Interstate 15 in the high desert, Caltrans said.
In the Eastern Sierra, the Mammoth Mountain ski resort reported 9 inches to 11 inches of new snow overnight, with more expected.
The Sierra snowpack is an important contributor to California's water supply, but at the start of March its water content was about half the average normally recorded on April 1, when it is typically at its most robust.
