Snow, harsh road conditions expected in SoCal mountains on Easter weekend

Easter Sunday is almost here, but Southern California mountains will be seeing wintry conditions with snow and gusty winds this weekend.

The snow level began at around 6,500 to 7,000 feet Friday night. By late Saturday, it fell down to below 5,000 feet, bringing up to 2 feet of snow at the resorts in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains.

Other parts of the region will see rain through Sunday.

NBC4 meteorologist David Biggar said if people need to travel to the mountains, they should have tried to complete traveling by tonight. 

“It’ll be very difficult to travel through or to the area mountains as we get into the weekend,” Biggar explained. 

Dangerous winter driving conditions in local mtns thru this weekend. Local blizzard conditions possible tonight-early Sat AM across higher elevations as strong cold front brings heavy snow/strong winds locally reducing vsbys to near zero.Photo-Stephen Coleman. #LAWeather #cawx pic.twitter.com/A64TJgxedf

— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) March 29, 2024

The National Weather Service also issued winter storm warnings through Sunday night in the Ventura County, San Gabriel, San Bernardino and Riverside County mountains, urging people to take extra caution due to dangerous road conditions. 

“It should be great conditions on the slopes, but if people are coming up, they need to be prepared,” Justin Kanton from Big Bear Mountain Resort said.

He said every motorist heading to Big Bear should have proper traction devices in the car, but his concern is that not every Southern California driver knows how to use them. 

“The last place you want to figure out how to put on tire chains is on the side of the road,” Kanton said. “The tire chains and cables – maybe practice putting those on before you head out to come up this weekend.”

Kanton also added, because many of the Southern California resorts had a rough year, he hopes people would arrive at Big Bear safely to enjoy the tail end of snow season. 

“The snow first didn’t come in January, and then all of a sudden, it showed up in February,” Kanton explained. “It’s a bit of a later developing season, but we’ve maintained through it all.”

Kanton also urged travelers to check road conditions for any closures or delays in addition to having an emergency kit in the car. 

“The slopes are in great condition. And any snow we get out of this season, we’ll just add to that,” Kanton said.