Heavy snow lying on the San Gabriel moun

Heavy snow lying on the San Gabriel mountains which overlook the city of Los Angeles is contrasted with palm trees along the Santa Monica freeway, the day after a severe storms hit the city, on December 8, 2009. The cold storm that hit the region brought rain, fierce winds, power outages and blizzard conditions in high mountain passes. It also wrought chaos on freeways, causing nearly double the number of crashes experienced on Los Angeles County freeways on a dry day. From 12:01 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, the California Highway Patrol counted 349 traffic collisions on roads under its jurisdiction, compared with 182 collisions a week ago on November 30, a dry day . AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images)