Southern California Seeing Rise in Accidents Amidst Storm 

A winter storm that began hitting Southern California last night has led to dangerous driving conditions, causing pileup collisions. 

The severity of the storm is expected to pick up in the early hours of Friday, February 24th.

So far there has been light rain and snow flurries but blizzard conditions are expected in the mountain areas. 

The blizzard warnings are anticipated for the LA, Ventura, & San Bernardino County mountains. Some of these areas never see snow in the winter months. 

Roads have already become icy Thursday morning and are only going to worsen. 

A 20-car pileup collision occurred in Yucaipa around 11 p.m. last night on the 10 Freeway. There was also a crash in Crestline that left more than a dozen drivers stranded in the snow which led to a closure of Highway 189. 

The coasts will see about 2 to 5 inches of rain and the valleys will get up to 10 inches through Saturday night. 

Officials have issued a warning of mudflows where wildfire burn scars remain. 

If possible, people should refrain from driving until weather conditions get better.