A cozy layer of white stuff on the ground in Sherman Oaks (see photo on the next page) had some Angelenos asking if we got a rare dusting of snow right in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley.
The answer, says the National Weather Service in Oxnard, is no.
What you see on the ground is only a mirage of frozen water, a.k.a. …
… hail, NWS meteorologist Joe Sirard tells the Weekly.
The snow level for this second of two Pacific storms this week was 3,500 feet, far above Sherman Oaks' existence at 650 feet above sea level, he said.
Still, there were plenty of reports of hail around the San Fernando Valley, starting at 10 a.m. and culminating at about 1:20 p.m., according to NWS weather spotters.
Wow freak hail storm in Sherman Oaks @abc7 check it out twitter.com/NickMMasters/s…
— Nick Masters (@NickMMasters) March 8, 2013
Sirard:
It's the kind of pattern where it's cold and unstable air creating convection, thunderstorms, showers and the possibility of small hail.
Most of the reports involved “pea-size” hail, he said.
The storm is leaving us tonight, Sirard said, with some areas of the Valley having racked up more than an inch of rain but downtown showing less than half an inch.
Today: snow (well, technically hail, but it looks like snow, so I'm calling it snow) in Sherman Oaks: pho.to/1MjYo
— Robert Beaucage (@robertbeaucage) March 8, 2013
Apparently it's snowing in Sherman Oaks. That's not too far from here, maybe I'll get to see some today 😀
— アイシャ (@misadesu) March 8, 2013
Apparently it is snowing in Sherman Oaks and sunny at LAX!!
— VerIfied 1 Good Guy! (@LAmaleCA) March 8, 2013
@lascanner Apparently it is snowing in Sherman Oaks. That is not a sentence I ever thought I would write.
— Enty Lawyer (@entylawyer) March 8, 2013
It freakin' snowed here today in Sherman Oaks
— James Bartholet (@JamesBartholet) March 8, 2013
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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