Southern California got a taste of summer and winter, all in a couple of days.
The summerlike weather from Los Angeles to the border included a high of 87 degrees Sunday near SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles County before it dropped to 80 in time for the Super Bowl kickoff.
Temperatures continued to drop, and by Monday night the low was 54.
In Pasadena, where the high in the area hit 60 on Tuesday, a layer of hail made the area look like a winter wonderland. By night, it had dipped to 46.
What happened?
Last week's high-pressure system along the coast, which ushered in sunlight and offshore winds from the deserts, was bumped by a fast-moving cold low from the north, forecasters said.
The Los Angeles area snow level dropped to 3,500 feet, and genuine powder was seen Tuesday on the Grapevine — the Interstate 5 freeway route north out of Los Angeles, where snow is not uncommon — and along Pearblossom Highway north of the Angeles National Forest, according to the National Weather Service.
Thunder and lightning also struck along the coast, and Los Angeles County lifeguards temporarily closed all beaches in their jurisdiction late in the afternoon. Rain fell in parts of the region, but the highest amounts measured less than a third of an inch.
"Pretty sure we had a heat advisory with temps 80 to 90 degrees just two days ago," the National Weather Service office that serves Los Angeles tweeted Tuesday.
The same system was expected to transform into a “large-scale storm” that forecasters said will roll into the Southern and Eastern U.S. starting Wednesday.
The quick flip from hot to cold is not unheard of, but it is rare. While summerlike weather can strike almost any time of year in Southern California, the subsequent low-pressure system that brought cold temperatures and precipitation this week is a product mostly of winter.
"I haven't see anything quite like this," National Weather Service meteorologist Lisa Phillips said.
Now that the coats are out, Southern Californians can get ready to put them away again. Warmth, abetted by another high-pressure system, is expected to return to the region by the second half of the week.
