With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today.
Yes, That's Snow You Just Saw In Los Angeles
Fill up on gasoline! Raid store shelves! Break out the reporters in parkas! Okay, don't do any of those things but feel free to squeal with delight — we did — because it just snowed in Los Angeles.
Early Thursday afternoon, before 2 p.m., SoCal residents began reporting that snow was falling in their neighborhoods. These reports came from various parts of L.A. County, from Malibu , Thousand Oaks and Northridge to Eagle Rock , Santa Clarita and Pasadena — and people were excited.
One of these people was LAist food editor Elina Shatkin, who freaked out like a little kid when she saw the snow while she was moving her car out of one of Pasadena's rigorously enforced two-hour parking zones.
IT’S SNOWING IN PASADENA! Now I know how my husband who grew up in Chicago feels! #lasnowpocalypse #snowpocalyose2019 pic.twitter.com/YBDW7OqXZx
— Elina Shatkin (@elinashatkin) February 21, 2019
"Some of my colleagues who saw my video claim that this isn't snow, it is just hail," Shatkin says. "I disagree. Hail is pellets, right? These were NOT pellets. They melted pretty quickly but they were definitely flakes."*
KPCC/LAist education reporter Kyle Stokes was so excited about the snow he jumped for joy, and he is from Minnesota, so if he says it's snow, we believe him.
Snow? Hail? Snnnnhail? (Freezing rain?) #lasnow #larain pic.twitter.com/jASyCBPAJE
— Kyle Stokes (@kystokes) February 21, 2019
The National Weather Service agrees with Shatkin and Stokes.
Correct, that is snow! Lots of confusion today. If precip bounces it contains ice - call it sleet or small hail. If precip in flakes it's snow, white balls are melted flakes called graupel. #CAwx #LArain #CAstorm https://t.co/Awdddmp7tc
— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) February 21, 2019
We rarely see snow (or should we say graupel?) in this part of Southern California but it does happen. In 2011, it snowed in Burbank and other parts of Southern California. So #LAsnowpocalypse is no mere hashtag joke.
In all seriousness, it's cold out there and the roads will be slippery. So be careful.
Here are some more people who were amazed by the snow, including one of the kids from Stand By Me.
Snowing in Calabasas! @RebeccaRomijn pic.twitter.com/GhoSVZc5WE
— Jerry O'Connell (@MrJerryOC) February 21, 2019
IT’S SNOWING!!!!!! IN NORTHRIDGE!!!!! OMG pic.twitter.com/t0U43gwFmx
— Steph🤍 (@StxphMichelle) February 21, 2019
Man is it really snowing in Pasadena? pic.twitter.com/zKNOmOe3qf
— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) February 21, 2019
When I get caught in a rainstorm except it’s not raining it’s wet snow! This is Malibu California!!!! Armageddon!!! lol pic.twitter.com/mZhvdvO1Gq
— Linden Ashby (@lindenashby) February 21, 2019
Can you believe it? Snow was falling in Santa Clarita! We want to see your best snow pictures from today. Share them in the comments! 🌨❄️ #santaclarita #cccc #snow pic.twitter.com/UjfsR9dPkb
— Santa Clarita City (@santaclarita) February 21, 2019
Everyone on Eagle Rock Blvd was yelling at each other. A woman came running out of the T Mobile store to ask me if it was hail or snow.
— Franklin Hardy (@franklinhardy) February 21, 2019
IT'S SNOWING IN NORTHRIDGE!!! That is all ❄️🤗 https://t.co/Ngeid0RpvO #snow #snowing #northridge #SoCal #LA #FOXLA #BREAKING pic.twitter.com/AqLZKHCeXq
— FOX 11 Los Angeles (@FOXLA) February 21, 2019
And just for fun, another picture of Kyle Stokes enjoying the rain.
*Editor's Note: Elina Shatkin also wrote this story so technically, she interviewed herself. That's how excited she was about the snow.