Weather

For a while, it seemed as if winter had taken a vacation from Southern California, going wherever it is that winters go in the winter. Like Chicago. But it's back. After an unseasonably warm and dry January, winter weather has returned in the form of a series of cool storms that have tracked down from the Gulf of Alaska in assembly-line fashion, with the latest expected to lash the region today with wind, rain and mountain snow.

The seasons begin two days earlier than they did 50 years ago, a shift that may be related to human activity, according to researchers at UC Berkeley and Harvard University. The season skewing means that the hottest and coldest days of the year come about two days sooner than they did 50 years ago, according to a study published in the Jan. 22 edition of the journal Nature.

Southern California is expected to see a sharp change in the weather now that a Pacific storm has blown out of the region, apparently sparing fire-charred mountain areas from disastrous mudslides Wednesday. The storm, which dumped 2 to 3 inches of rain in the Angeles National Forest, contributed to a number of traffic accidents but caused no significant mudflows in areas ravaged by recent wildfires. Still, officials said, even though the rain has passed, the danger of mudslides will continue as new storm systems develop in the coming weeks and months.

You may have failed to notice, but the weather Sunday in the coastal mill town of Port Talbot, South Wales, was a rather dreary muck of wet wind and temperatures peaking in the 40s. That's why 70-year-old Joyce Wilkens was thrilled. She was half a world away from her United Kingdom home, soaking up Southern California's brilliant blue skies and balmy breezes as she strolled through the Grove shopping center on the Westside.

Hurricane-strength winds battered Orange County late Wednesday and early Thursday, trapping motorists, downing utility poles and interrupting power to thousands of residents. Although no injuries were reported, 40 businesses in two Santa Ana strip malls probably will be without power until Sunday, said Larry Labrado, a spokesman for Southern California Edison. "Our guys came out last night and have been working ever since," he said. The county's strongest winds were reported about 2:30 a.m.

As temperatures plummeted into the single digits across the Midwest on Saturday, residents reached for their thermal underwear, worried about the possibility of frozen pipes and huddled indoors as an Arctic wind chill made it feel like 20 below zero. In some spots, it felt even colder. As winds and cold air blew in from the northwest, the National Weather Service reported that parts of Minnesota and North Dakota were hit with wind-chill temperatures as low as 35 below.

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The question is: Sleeves or no sleeves? When the New York Giants play the Green Bay Packers for the NFC championship today, a fair amount of attention will be paid to what the players wear under their jerseys. That's because the forecast calls for a low temperature of minus-8 degrees with a wind-chill factor dipping to minus-30.

A fierce winter storm left the Southland's mountain regions battered and snow-crusted Thursday, and hundreds of motorists found themselves stranded along Interstate 5 in the Tejon Pass after public safety officials ordered the key artery closed indefinitely as they braced for yet another icy tempest.

It is yet another attempt by man to triumph over nature. Determined not to let anything spoil their party, organizers of the 2008 Summer Olympics said Wednesday that they will take control over the most unpredictable element of all -- the weather. While China's Olympic athletes are getting ready to compete on the fields, its meteorologists are working the skies, attempting the difficult feat of making sure it doesn't rain on the Aug. 8 opening ceremonies. "Our team is trained.

China's main north-south national highway reopened Monday after weeks of snow and ice storms, easing transportation bottlenecks that have stranded millions of people and disrupted food and fuel supplies as the year's biggest holiday approaches. The China Meteorological Administration predicted rain and sleet through today, but said the weather would clear in time for the Lunar New Year on Thursday.