A cold, Pacific storm moving toward Southern California on Thursday is expected to bring winter-like temperatures and the lowest-elevation snow so far this year, posing a risk for drivers on several mountain roads, according to weather forecasters.

Temperatures at elevations as low as 3,000 feet could reach freezing levels by late Thursday and Friday across the Southland — the lowest elevation for snow seen this winter and spring season, said Rich Thompson, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard.

“For this winter season, this definitely is the coldest,” Thompson said. However, the storm is not a particularly moist system, which means snow accumulation is expected to remain — at least in Southern California — in the inches.

“It’s not going to be a ton, but even a little bit on those mountain pass road — [Interstate] 14, the Grapevine — just a little bit of snow can cause issues for people,” Thompson said.

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Officials expect temperatures to drop into the 50s across the coasts and valleys and much lower in the mountains, where the storm could set daily records.

“I guess we saved the best for last,” said Alex Tardy, a National Weather Service meteorologist in San Diego. “It’s enough precipitation that snow’s sticking between 3- and 4,000 feet and we’ll see some travel issues that we haven’t seen before [this year].”

Here’s what you need to know about the system set to upend springtime weather for at least the next two days:

When is it coming?

The storm is expected to make its way inland and move south over California Thursday. It arrived from the northern Pacific and brought frigid temperatures along with it.

“It’s just off the Northern California coast,” Mike Wofford, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard, said early Thursday. “The cold front is going to be moving through the area, probably for [Los Angeles], this evening and then overnight.”

Already the storm has started to have an impact, with rain and some low-elevation snow recorded in the Bay Area on Thursday morning, where temperatures dropped considerably from Wednesday’s highs.

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Friday is expected to be even colder than Thursday, Wofford said.

Where can you expect to see storm effects?

Pretty much all of California can expect to have some cold, wet weather from this storm — from snow in the mountains to dangerous surf along the coast.

Showers and thunderstorms are forecast across the state through Friday and are expected to be intermittent and only severe in isolated areas.

In the Los Angeles County mountains and the Antelope Valley foothills — including across the Interstate 5 and Interstate 14 corridors — a winter weather advisory will go into effect at 5 p.m. Thursday until late Friday, with officials warning that snow could make travel very difficult.

“Delays or temporary closures are possible over many mountain roads, including Interstate 5 over the Grapevine,” the National Weather Service said.

In the San Bernardino and Riverside County mountains, a winter storm warning will begin at 4 p.m. Thursday and last through late Friday. Officials warn that the heaviest snow is expected Friday, when driving through the mountains will be challenging, especially across the Cajon Pass.

“The hazardous conditions could impact the morning or evening commute,” the warning said. “Very strong winds could cause extensive tree damage.”

California

April 3, 2024

Snow is expected Thursday and Friday across the Sierra Nevada, with the southern portion and some Kern County mountains under a winter weather advisory through Friday evening. There could be up to a foot of snow and 60-mph winds at elevations above 3,000 feet, according to the Weather Service.

The northern Sierra Nevada mountains are bracing for anywhere between 6 and 24 inches of snow falling as low as at 2,000 feet in elevation, while the Shasta and western Colusa County mountains are expecting 4 to 10 inches, according to the National Weather Service.

What’s coming?

The storm’s most notable feature will be the cold, Wofford said, which is driving that low-elevation snow.

“It is cooler this morning [in Southern California], but the coldest air won’t really be arriving until Friday,” Wofford said. “Temperatures tomorrow [are] not going to get out of the 50s in most areas — in some parts of the country that’s a nice day, but in Southern California it’s definitely below normal.”

After hitting highs in the upper 70s Wednesday, temperatures Thursday have plummeted at least 10 degrees, if not more, Wofford said, with another 5-degree drop expected for Friday.

Elevations as low as 3,000 feet in L.A. County could see about an inch of snow, according to the National Weather Service. Above 4,500 feet, totals are expected to be between 3 and 6 inches.

Up to a foot of snow is possible on the San Bernardino and Riverside County mountains’ highest peaks, with 2 to 4 inches of snow possible from 4,000 to 5,000 feet in elevation and snow showers likely from 3,000 to 3,500 feet — enough to accumulate along the Cajon Pass.

“We should be seeing some light rain either late this afternoon or early this evening, with showers and thunderstorms possible all the way through Friday evening,” Wofford said. Depending on the strength and location of the thunderstorms, some areas could see heavy downpours, small hail, lightning and even a small tornado, he said.

But rain totals aren’t expected to be too high, with about a half-inch predicted for most of L.A. County and an inch expected in the foothills and mountains.

There’s also a concern for high surf across the Central Coast down to San Diego, with warnings of 8- to 16-foot waves and dangerous rip currents. This will remain an issue through Saturday, and on Friday morning, there’s a possibility for minor coastal flooding.

Could this storm be record breaking?

It’s very possible that the cold temperatures Friday could set some daily records, Wofford said. The current historic record for the coldest April 5 in downtown L.A. is 55 degrees — which is close to Friday’s expected high.

At the Los Angeles International Airport, the coldest April 5 on record topped out at 59 degrees, and Friday is expected to be slightly colder than that, Wofford said.

“It’s going to be close,” Wofford said. “It seems like a good chance we’re going to get those.”

As for rainfall, Wofford said it’s unlikely the region will hit any records, despite being close to the wettest two-year period in history. Downtown L.A. is less than two inches away from hitting that record — and could do so anytime before the end of September — but this storm isn’t expected to push the total over the edge.

The wettest back-to-back water years on record currently sits at 54.1 inches of rain, occurring in the late 1800s. Currently, downtown L.A. is at 52.46 inches since Oct. 1, 2022. (Water years run October through September.)

“It’s not likely we’ll do it with this storm but it’s not impossible,” Wofford said.

How long will it last?

Forecasts show this storm should be clearing out by Saturday.

“It’s a quick hitter so we don’t see the impact over the weekend,” Tardy said. “In fact the snow will taper off Friday night, ... and we warm up pretty quick.”

He said by Saturday afternoon, much of Southern California’s coasts and valleys will be back to temperatures in the mid 60s — only slightly below average for this time of year.

However, he warned that the weekend reprieve will be short-lived, with another small storm system expected to bring more winds and possibly some precipitation Monday.

Ken Kahan makes a living building homes.

A specialty? Luxury apartment complexes in Los Angeles neighborhoods such as Palms and Silver Lake filled with mostly market rate units, but with a handful of income-restricted affordable ones as well.

It can be a good business, but lately less so.

“We have pulled back,” said Kahan, the president of California Landmark Group. “The metrics don’t work.”

Across California and the nation, developers moved to start fewer homes in 2023, a decline some experts say could eventually send home prices and rents even higher as supply shortages worsen.

Developers cite several reasons for delaying new projects. There’s high labor and material costs, as well as new local regulations that together make it harder to turn a profit.

Perhaps the biggest factor — and one hitting across the country — is the high cost of borrowing. Rising interest rates not only make it more expensive for Americans to buy a home, but they add additional costs for developers who must shell out more money to build and manage their projects.

As a result, fewer projects make financial sense to build and fewer homes are built.

“More than anything it is debt costs,” said Ryan Patap, an analyst for real estate research firm CoStar.

In all, preliminary data from the US. Census Bureau show building permits for new homes nationwide fell 12% in 2023 from the prior year and 7% in California. Drops were recorded in both single-family homes — most of which tend to be for sale — as well as multifamily homes — which are chiefly rentals.

Dan Dunmoyer, president of the California Building Industry Assn., said one major reason for the decline is that many for-sale home builders foresaw “a massive downturn” and stopped buying lots to develop when mortgage rates soared in 2022.

Then a funny thing happened. Demand for their product didn’t crater as much as expected, in large part because existing homeowners didn’t want to sell and rid themselves of ultra-low mortgage rates.

“Builders kind of woke up and realized ‘Oh, it’s just us [selling homes],‘” Dunmoyer said. “But we don’t turn on a dime.”

As for-sale builders restart their engines to take advantage of a shortage of listings, there are signs of improvement. During the first two months of this year, builders in California pulled 35% more permits for single-family homes than during the same period a year earlier, according to census data.

Permits for multifamily continued to decline — dropping 33%.

The diverging paths are probably due to several factors, said Rick Palacios Jr., director of research for John Burns Research and Consulting.

On a whole, single-family home builders have access to a wider source of debt that isn’t as vulnerable to rising interest rates. In the single-family market, the supply shortage has also worsened and home prices are climbing.

Meanwhile, rents in many places — including Los Angeles — have dropped slightly as vacancies have risen, in part because apartment construction has been relatively robust in recent years.

“Single-family solid, multifamily weak is a pretty consistent theme across most of the country,” Palacios said. “You’re hard pressed to find a market where developers and investors are gung ho on apartments.”

In the city of Los Angeles, developers must contend with another factor — Measure ULA.

The citywide property transfer tax took effect last year to fund affordable housing and has drawn the ire of the real estate industry.

Though it’s known as the “mansion tax,” except for rare exceptions it applies to all properties sold for more than $5 million, no matter if they are gas stations, strip malls, apartment buildings or actual mansions. Under the measure, a seller is charged 4% of the sales price for properties sold above $5 million and below $10 million.

At $10 million and above, the tax is 5.5%.

Apartment developers and real estate brokers said additional costs from ULA make it even harder to earn a reasonable profit in what can be a risky business.

That’s because when building apartments, developers often sell their finished product, which would probably trigger the ULA tax for any building over 15 units, according to Greg Harris, a real estate broker with Marcus and Millichap. Even developers who hold onto their properties typically need to take out a mortgage on the finished building — and Harris said lenders are willing to give less because they too would need to pay the tax if they foreclose and sell the property.

“ULA is like the last nail in the coffin,” said Robert Green, a Los Angeles developer. “It couldn’t have come at a worse time.”

Many apartment projects got their start under different economic circumstances and have opened in recent years or will soon. That supply should help keep rents down for a while, but not forever, said Richard Green, executive director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.

In two or three years, as fewer apartments are finished “we will see rent start to go up again,” he said.

That would be a hit for Californians struggling to find housing in an expensive state where thousands sleep on the streets.

Economic cycles, of course, ebb and flow and construction may rebound.

The Federal Reserve plans to cut interest rates later this year, which may help more projects make sense financially, as could rising rents.

Land sellers could also drop their asking prices to adjust for rising developer costs, including ULA in Los Angeles.

Normally, real estate analyst Patap said he’d expect apartment construction to rebound as land costs adjust downward. But he noted developers say they are also cautious about building in L.A. because of a broader political shift in the city that’s more supportive of restrictions on landlords and more supportive of protections for tenants.

In the city of Los Angeles, multifamily permits dropped 24% in 2023 compared with 19% in Los Angeles County, census data show. (Data from the Construction Industry Research Board show even larger drops: 49% in the city and 39% in the county.)

Laurie Lustig-Bower, a commercial real estate broker with CBRE, said some L.A. landowners have reduced their prices to sell, but “if they don’t have a gun to their head” they are waiting until developers can pay more.

In recent years, state lawmakers have taken action to make it easier to build housing, in part by eroding local control over land use decisions.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has also fast-tracked 100% affordable buildings under her Executive Directive 1, while the city recently exempted smaller projects from some storm water capture requirements.

Mott Smith, chairman of the Council of Infill Builders, said more must be done to increase the number of new homes in Los Angeles and cited the storm water decision as the kind of steps government should take.

“The city has no influence over interest rates ... [but] what it controls is the process to get a project approved,” Smith said. “There are so many opportunities.”

For now, developers say it’s tough to find opportunities.

Kahan said his company runs the numbers on potential land purchases constantly and at least once a week finds it doesn’t make sense to buy and build.

He expects to purchase some land in Southern California by year’s end, though mostly outside of the city of Los Angeles where Kahan said he’s increasingly looking because of costs from ULA, which unlike current interest rates aren’t expected to change.

So far, Kahan said he’s yet to find a deal that will work — within or outside city borders.

LOS ANGELES -- — Mitchell Parker won his major league debut and Luis García Jr. hit a three-run homer, his first of the season, as the Washington Nationals defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 on Monday night.

García went opposite field with two outs in the fifth inning against Tyler Glasnow (3-1), who issued a two-out walk to Joey Gallo one batter before. Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said Glasnow wasn't feeling well.

The Dodgers celebrated the 77th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier during an afternoon ceremony involving both teams at his statue in Centerfield Plaza. Every player around the majors wore Robinson's retired No. 42 and fittingly, the Dodger Stadium attendance was 42,677.

Parker (1-0) became the first Nationals pitcher to win his big league debut since Stephen Strasburg in 2010.

“Speechless,” Parker said. “That's awesome.”

He allowed two runs and four hits in five innings. The left-hander struck out four and walked none after getting called up earlier in the day from Triple-A Rochester.

“After we got the first inning out of the way, it kind of started to become normal,” Parker said. “I kept telling myself all day it's the same game I've been playing all my life, so try not to overthink any of it.”

Parker struck out 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts to start the game. He then retired Betts, struck out two-time AL MVP Shohei Ohtani and got 2020 NL MVP Freddie Freeman to ground out in order in the third.

“Imagining it and actually living through it are two very different things,” Mitchell said. “It was a special experience.”

Mitchell was promoted to replace injured Josiah Gray in the rotation, and his parents flew cross-country to cheer him on.

“The kid has got good stuff,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “The kid has a very low heartbeat. Nothing seems to faze him. That's a tough team to face and he did really, really well.”

Kyle Finnegan pitched the ninth to earn his sixth save.

Ohtani scored twice. He singled and scored on Will Smith’s sacrifice fly in the first. Ohtani reached on interference by catcher Riley Adams in the sixth, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch by reliever Matt Barnes and scored on Smith's RBI groundout.

Ohtani represented the potential tying run at the plate in the seventh. Pinch-hitter James Outman singled and Betts had a two-out single before Ohtani flied out to center field to end the threat.

Glasnow gave up six runs and eight hits in five innings, struck out five and walked two. The right-hander's wild pitch led to Washington's first run in the first. CJ Abrams doubled leading off and scored when a pitch to Gallo bounced off the plate at a crazy angle.

The Dodgers led 2-1 on Chris Taylor's sacrifice fly in the second. It was Taylor's first RBI of the season after he came in 1 for 32 with 17 strikeouts.

Abrams' homer tied it 2-all and Gallo's RBI double gave the Nationals the lead for good in the third.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Nationals: Placed C Keibert Ruiz on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Friday, with the flu.

UP NEXT

Nationals: LHP Patrick Corbin (0-2, 8.44 ERA) goes for his first win of the season Tuesday.

Dodgers: LHP Ryan Yarbrough will pitch, but not necessarily start, in a bullpen game.

------

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

It's altogether unlikely the Los Angeles Rams will ever truly fill the cleats of Aaron Donald – and they certainly cannot be expected to do so in one offseason's worth of time.

Nonetheless, Rams veteran linebacker Ernest Jones is eager to attempt it as L.A. gets to work on its first season without the surefire Hall of Fame defensive lineman since 2013.

"I'm excited for the challenge," Jones told reporters Monday, via FOX Sports’ Eric Williams, "defensively we're excited about the challenge without AD."

The Rams will be without a 10-time Pro Bowl, three-time AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year and all-around wreaker of havoc seldom, if ever, seen on the interior of the defensive line when they kick off 2024 sans Donald, who retired in March.

For the 24-year-old Jones, though, he sees the obstacle to overcome as an opportunity to embrace for many on the defense.

"We get to go out there and now it's time for those guys to make a name for themselves, so it's just going to be a great task," he said.

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Among those tasked with stepping up are defensive back additions Kamren Curl, Darious Williams and Tre'Davious White, along with returning talents such as 2023 third-round selections Byron Young and Kobie Turner, who turned in stellar rookie campaigns.

Jones, a 2021 third-rounder, has envisioned himself becoming a Rams leader since he joined the club.

"From the moment I got here, this was a goal of mine to be this leader of in this defense," he said. "Kinda took that towards last year, but with him being gone now, there's a lot more eyes on me, which I can sure handle. Got a great group of guys that I'm looking forward to lead. We brought in some key parts that I think are going to be real beneficial to us as a team. When you got a team like that, it's truly easy to lead, then, because all guys are ready to go."

This certainly isn't your usual Rams offseason.

For the first time since 2016 and the first time in Sean McVay's time as head coach, the Rams are set to make a first-round selection. And, as aforementioned, it will be the first time since 2013 that they'll be entering a season without the dominant Donald on the roster.

Through three seasons, Jones has one a Super Bowl, played in 47 games, started 33 and is coming off a 2023 campaign in which he produced career highs of 145 tackles and 4.5 sacks. He believes he – and the rest of his defense – are up to the task of leading the AD-less Rams.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — In second-year Los Angeles Rams receiver Puka Nacua’s initial week of offseason training with veteran teammate Cooper Kupp, he threw up.

A lot. Anywhere he could see grass.

“His conditioning days were some of the tougher ones,” said a sheepishly grinning Nacua on Monday as the Rams opened their first phase of Organized Team Activities (OTAs).

“That first week I came back, I think threw up every day of the week. He wasn’t a fan of that, because it was on his lawn! ‘You’re throwing up in my bushes, Puka — thanks.’ But it was super fun.”

Nacua is still adjusting to life in the NFL — not just because he became a household name as a fifth-round surprise who set the new rookie receiving record in 2023 with 105 catches and 1,486 yards. His sudden burst into stardom has been accompanied by court-side seats at Los Angeles Lakers games, playing in the NBA Celebrity All-Star game, and shoutouts from top athletes and celebrities on social media.

It also means that Nacua, whose physical play style led to a number of different injuries to his ribs, arms and shoulders, and knees (he didn’t miss any time) is now taking a more NFL-standard approach to the offseason. In doing so, Nacua says he is following Kupp’s lead.

Incoming rookies train for standard testing at all-star events such as the Senior Bowl or NFL scouting combine, not necessarily an actual NFL season. Now, Nacua will have a full offseason of football training designed with the intent of actually playing football.

“Coop was ready to get to it right before the Super Bowl,” Nacua said, “he was already starting his integration to get ready to work out. A lot of mobility stuff in (this) first part, and then just continuing to stay explosive. A lot of top-end speed that we are working on.”

Rest, diet and recovery are as important as his new conditioning. Nacua said he has leaned out a little — he now weighs 210 pounds, but he said he has added some protective bulk around his shoulders and chest.

“I think Coop would definitely not advise me to eat McDonald’s as much as I did during the season, he wasn’t a fan of that,” said Nacua, laughing.

“The mentality from last year was ‘one day at a time.’ I just think that I could never really think about Sunday until I was waking up on Sunday at 9 a.m. … I guess another step in the recovery phase, (when) I saw Coop, as much as we were working out hard in the offseason he was recovering just as hard. Taking nutrition into it, having people who do body work outside of the facility and finding ways to constantly recover. If I’m going to have a two-hour workout period, then the 22 other hours in the day how else can I recover? How else can I gain an advantage? Honestly, I’ve recovered just as hard as I’m working out. That was a mindset I didn’t have before.”

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