By Reginald Stanley. Posted March 8, 2025, 12:46 PM.

A cold upper-level low pressure system moved southeast through Southern California this week, bringing cold temperatures, widespread rain and mountain snow to the region between Wednesday and Friday.

The initial cold front of the storm swept through the region Wednesday afternoon and evening, with shower activity mostly tapering off after midnight. Following another brief period of showers early Thursday morning, a break in the weather persisted for much of the day Thursday before the next, far colder round of precipitation arrived Thursday evening as the core of the upper low traversed across San Diego County. During this period, instability surrounding the center of the low produced areas of heavy rain, strong winds, along with thunder and lightning. This activity was primarily limited to San Diego County, while areas north of it received light-to-moderate rainfall. Snow levels dropped to around 4,000 feet above sea level Thursday evening as colder air settled into the region, becoming even colder following the low's departure to the east early Friday morning. Some inland valleys experienced surprise showers Friday afternoon, caused by wrap-around moisture on the low's northwestern flank. Areas affected included the Santa Ana Mountains as well as an area stretching from northern Lake Elsinore (Alberhill area) to Corona. Mammatus clouds were observed above portions of the Temecula Valley Thursday afternoon.

Storm totals for the period beginning March 5th and ending on March 7th varied from 0.21 inches in Pinon Hills, to as high as 1.40 inches in Temecula Valley's Wine Country (courtesy of Jim Sappington). In the WeatherCurrents network, Lake Elsinore recorded the highest total with 1.30 inches. Stations in East Hemet, South Fallbrook, and French Valley also exceeded one inch for the storm. In Riverside's Canyon Crest neighborhood, 0.67 inches was recorded (courtesy of Jim Ness). Totals elsewhere ranged from between 0.6 and just under 1 inch, with the exception of Pinon Hills, where 0.21 inches fell - some of it as snow. Drier weather followed the storm's wake, with a cold Saturday morning. Sunday will also be dry but significantly warmer, before multiple storms are on track to impact Southern California next week.

Due to an outage affecting the rain gauge in South Temecula, no precipitation totals are currently available for that location. Here are the rain totals for the WeatherCurrents network and associates:

1. Season total began on October 1, 2024.