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High Winds, Surf Forecast for Southland This Weekend

The National Weather Service warns of high surf and winds expected to hit the Southland area this weekend.

High winds will lash the Southland this weekend, creating hazardous driving conditions around The Grapevine, while high surf pounds the coast and generates perilous rip currents, forecasters said Friday.

The winds will be the product of a fast-moving storm system expected to sweep across the northern slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains in Ventura and Lo Angeles County Saturday night, according to a National Weather Service advisory.

Although not much snow is expected, gusty northerly winds could create whiteout conditions, warned an NWS advisory, adding that "conditions should improve by late Sunday morning."

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Between two and four inches of snow is expected in Ventura County and less than that in Los Angeles County, it said.

The storm will approach the Central Coast on Saturday and weaken as it moves into Ventura and Los Angeles counties Saturday night, according to the NWS. Rainfall is expected to be light—around a tenth of an inch in coastal and valley areas.

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"Very large surf" will be a source of concern this weekend, according to an NWS advisory.

"There will be two separate significant groundswells that could affect much of the coastal areas beginning" Friday evening, it said.

Initially, a 3- to 4-foot southerly swell with a very long period of 19 seconds could generate surf of between five and seven feet along south-facing beaches in Los Angeles County, especially Malibu and Zuma beaches, it said.

"But this southerly swell will be overrun by a potentially more significant west-to-northwest groundswell, which should develop from a few storm systems in the central Pacific," it said.

That swell could reach heights of more than 20 feet across the outer waters, with a 14- to 15-second period, and should generate particularly high surf along the Central Coast—12 to 18 feet by Saturday morning, with sets of 23 feet "during the peak of the event" on Sunday.

It also could trigger surf of between seven and 12 feet along Santa Catalina Island Saturday night, it said.

"The high surf will gradually diminish late Sunday night into Monday, then lower more significantly early Tuesday morning," according to the advisory.

Until then, there will be "a high risk of rip currents, making swimming in the ocean hazardous for anyone," and "fishermen should stay off jetties as waves can sweep people into the ocean," it said.

Southland temperatures will be on the mild side, though they will dip Saturday before rising again almost to Friday's levels Sunday—except in the Antelope Valley, where Sunday's highs will be seven or eight degrees lower than Saturday.

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