Storm leaves a blanket of snow across Southland

A law enforcement vehicle has the 14 Freeway to itself as the highway remained closed in northern Los Angeles County after a major snowstorm.

Unable to proceed by car, motorist Mike Cerrato shovels snow off of the Avenue S onramp to the southbound 14 Freeway in Palmdale. It would take snowplows and warming weather to reopen the road, but he said shoveling helped him relieve boredom and work off the fast food he had been subsisting on while stranded.

Antelope Valley commuters and truckers line up at the Avenue S onramp to the 14 Freeway in Palmdale, waiting for officials to reopen the route.

Stranded Antelope Valley commuters look hopefully for a train at the Palmdale station. Mass transit and vehicle traffic was running late in much of the region as it recovered from a freeway-blocking snowfall.

Commuters crowd into a Metrolink car at the Palmdale station. There was standing room only on the trip to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, as many riders had been stranded by snow in the Antelope Valley overnight.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Palm trees drooping under the weight of snow greeted shoppers at the nearly deserted Antelope Valley Mall.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Morning sun began to melt several inches of snow that covered the parking lot at the Antelope Valley Mall in Palmdale.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Stranded Antelope Valley commuter Christian Alvarez, 19, of Lancaster waits for a Metrolink train to take him to his job as an administrative assistant in Woodland Hills. Alvarez usually drives more than 60 miles to get to his job and doesn’t know what time he’ll make it to work.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

As the sunrise illuminates the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains, a person captures the scene while on a morning walk at Bolsa Chica State Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A snowy egret searches for food at the Bolsa Chica State Ecological Reserve as two people walk along a path with a view of the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A trucker heading north on the 5 Freeway has a view of snow-dusted mountains in the Angeles National Forest north of Sylmar.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

I-5 northbound is completely jammed before Castaic due to closure at the grapevine. Southern California will get a break from the wet weather today as a slight warming trend begins after a rain and snow storm pounded northern Los Angeles County, stranding thousands of motorists.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

The view along Jamboree Road in Newport Beach shows a blanket of snow covering the San Gabriel Mountains poking through the clouds. The recent storm brought heavy snow and closed highways leading over mountains passes.  (Marc Martin / Los Angeles Times)