Winter Storm — Riverside County Mountains, California

2023-03-01 to 2023-03-02 · Riverside County Mountains, California

Event narrative

An historic winter storm continued to produce heavy snowfall across the Riverside County Mountains on March 1st. Additional snowfall of 1-2 feet occurred across many mountain communities above 5,000 feet in elevation. Notable 7 day storm total snowfall amounts include 64 at the top of the Palm Springs tram on Mount San Jacinto, and 34 near Idyllwild.

Wider weather episode

After one powerful storm struck Southern California in late February, a second storm arrived at the end of February and into early March. This second storm produced several additional feet of snow as well as high winds in the mountains, where many communities were already struggling due to snow and wind impacts from the first storm. This led to many gas leaks from failing lines that started home fires, extended road closures, numerous power outages, many downed trees, about 250 rescues from mountains in the area, as well as at least one confirmed storm-related death, and an extensive recovery process that lasted well beyond the event. About 12 persons were reported dead, though the causes of the other 11 are uncertain at this time. A Presidential Major Disaster Declaration was approved following this event.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1084507. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.