By Reginald Stanley. Posted December 30, 2014, 9:10 PM.

A cold Pacific storm, from the Gulf of Alaska, swept into the region Tuesday amid an already cold air mass over Southern California.

The National Weather Service is predicting snow levels to fall down to between 1,500 and 2,000 feet above sea level late Tuesday night, and remaining there through early Wednesday morning. Snow could accumulate to 1 inch locally. Heavy snow is expected in the mountains. Showers are expected to intermittently affect the region until the storm's departure late Wednesday morning.

Snowfall is rare in the Inland Empire, although there have been several such events in the past decade - the most notable and widespread event occurring on November 21st, 2004.