Yes, that photo above is real. But no, that’s not snow on a Los Angeles beach.
The picture comes from Allen Schaben, a photographer for the L.A. Times. Schaben incorrectly identified the white stuff on the beach as “snow,” sending Twitter into a brief frenzy about whether it had snowed in Huntington Beach, a city just south of Los Angeles.
In reality, that white stuff is hail. But it’s still quite a sight.
#snow on #hb Huntington Beach @LA_Now pic.twitter.com/YMMtSv0Zea
— Allen J. Schaben (@alschaben) March 2, 2015
It’s easy to see why some people were confusing the hail for snow. As you can see in the photo below, retweeted by the Weather Channel, people were even making snowmen (or hailmen?) with the recent influx of icy precipitation.
#Snowman made of #hail – #CAwx #SoCal #storm RT@EgyptianVia Rainy Day Greetings from Huntington Beach @weatherchannel pic.twitter.com/ADz3XCjBeo
— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) March 2, 2015
But Mr. Hailman won’t be enjoying the beach much longer. Southern California saw lows in the mid-40s this weekend but Huntington Beach should return to a high of 70 by Wednesday.
Images via Allan Schaben on Twitter; The Weather Channel
