Shailoh Lefeiloal, Staff Writer | March 17, 2023
Image courtesy of Associated Press Images
Unlike states on the East Coast, living in Los Angeles County snow is something we only see in the movies or on the mountains of the valley. With more than two rain storms occurring on and off, Californians have finally seen snow in real-time. Although the snow arrived in small portions, people made the best out of their surreal experience with the snow.
With massive rainfall, the National Weather Service office of Los Angeles issued a Blizzard Warning. To understand why we received snow like this, we must review the recurring storms. The most recent storm left more than 12,000 California residents without electricity for days as stated by the BBC.
They has been the worst and most negatively affecting storm we have experienced in recent years. Fortunately, there have been no deaths related to the heavy storms but there have been reports of at least one citizen as missing as he “washed away”.
Meteorologists have said that this storm and its blizzard outcome are rare due to the lack of snow typically seen in California, especially in the Los Angeles area. Residents in parts of northern California have even been told to evacuate their homes with inches of heavy rain and large gusts of wind being felt.
This heavy rainfall has caused rivers to flow high, clogged storm drains, and ultimately destruction of residents' homes. California governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on March 9th, across 21 counties, ahead of the storm’s arrival in order to free up resources for response and relief efforts. ate of emergency on March 9th, across 21 counties, ahead of the storm’s arrival in order to free up resources for response and relief efforts.
Many counties will take weeks or months to recover from these storms after they are officially declared to end.
UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swan reportedly said, “In fact, it could be a historically significant snowfall for parts of the Southern California mountains. This well may be the largest single-event snowfall in some parts of Southern California since the 1980s. This is a big deal.”
Carson High School junior Marylee Calvillo stated, “I feel like the snow in L.A. is sort of an awareness that we should be taking extra precautions and start acting about global warming and climate change.”
CHS junior Rick Palomo added, “I like it because of the rareness of the snow, and it is great for our drought. It’s both good and bad in my opinion.”
As snow in Los Angeles County seems fun due to the perception of it from television, this is nothing we should be happy about when it appears in big quantities. Southern California is reported to not have seen snow like this since the late 90s.
Yes, the snow is very amusing but at what cost? Rainfall, large gusts of winds, power outages, and flooding, to name a few of the factors of snow that most California residents long to see in their lifetime.
Comments