Major Winter Storm Headed Toward Palomar

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for Palomar Mountain from 4:00 a.m. Saturday morning until 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning. As such Palomar Observatory will be closed for at least this weekend.

Anyone considering travel to the mountains of southern California this weekend should carefully consider (or maybe reconsider) their plans. From the winter storm warning:

A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW MEANS SEVERE
WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. SIGNIFICANT
AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE FORECAST THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS.
ONLY TRAVEL IN AN EMERGENCY. SNOW...BLOWING SNOW...AND DENSE FOG
WILL CAUSE LOCAL VISIBILITY NEAR ZERO AT TIMES. TRAVELERS
THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR HAZARDOUS WINTER
WEATHER CONDITIONS. MOTORISTS ARE URGED TO CHECK THE LATEST ROAD
REPORTS BEFORE DEPARTING. ALWAYS CARRY CHAINS AND TAKE EXTRA
FOOD AND CLOTHING IF YOU MUST TRAVEL INTO THE MOUNTAINS.
SNOWFALL WILL IMPACT TRAVEL ON INTERSTATE 8 THROUGH THE SAN
DIEGO COUNTY MOUNTAINS. THIS WEATHER COULD BE DEADLY FOR
UNPREPARED CAMPERS OR HIKERS.