Freezing February Sprinkles Malibu With Snowflakes, Has Palisadians Bundling Up

Palisadians were reaching for wool socks and sweaters this month as temperatures stayed consistently below average. According to the National Weather Service, this February was the fourth coldest on record, with an average high temperature of 60.6 degrees Fahrenheit—eight degrees below the Los Angeles average for February.

The coldest February on record belongs to 1962, with an average high temperature of 59.8 degrees, followed by 1911 (60.2 degrees) and 1887 (60.4 degrees).

“Our unusual weather continues, as the hail we received on January 12 was simply a precursor for the extremely rare snow seen in Malibu, Pasadena, West Hollywood and many parts of the Valley on February 21,” local weather expert Craig Weston told the Palisadian-Post.

“Snow is so rare in this area that the last time downtown Los Angeles experienced snow was in January of 1962. The rainy season, which goes from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019, has dumped 20.38 inches of rain on Pacific Palisades thus far, which is 5.68 inches above our average yearly rain total. I suspect we will add to these numbers in the weeks to come.”

Downtown LA has only experienced measurable snow three times since records began in 1877: once in January 1932, again in January 1949 and in January 1962.

“The recent weather was definitely interesting,” meteorologist Jay Rosenthal told the Post. “We’re in a dryer mode right now; the high pressure in the atmosphere is holding a little stronger just south of us, so most of the storm activity coming in from lower latitudes being joined by storms from the northwest will probably be pushed toward Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. It’s very likely we’ll get rain on Saturday, March 2.”

Rosenthal added that this is an El Niño winter.

“Not a particularly strong one,” he explained, “but it does fall into that category. In the past, these periods of time would have a lot of rain and very active systems in March, with March 1 to 11 standing out statistically as wet days.

“What’s interesting is that the models right now indicate a chance of that, but it looks like the brunt of it will be going north of us. I would still expect some rain down here; we’re not done yet.”

Rosenthal advised residents to remember what we’ve been through: Snow used to fall regularly (about once per decade) on the Los Angeles coastal plain.

Last week’s snowfall, though immeasurable, ended a 57-year snow-drought.

“We all have a short memory when it comes to weather,” Rosenthal said. “In 2013 we had extremely cold air coming down from Canada in the inland areas, with temperatures around 30 degrees. In the canyons, like Malibu and Topanga, the temperatures reached single digits, and in the Westlake and Agoura Hills area, there were trees that died as a result of the freezing conditions, right along the 101.

“The recent weather we just experienced wasn’t regular, but it’s always nice to have something that stands out a little.”