January 17, 1994: The Northridge Earthquake

January 17, 1994: The Northridge Earthquake strikes Southern California, at 4:30 AM Pacific Time (7:30 Eastern), with a magnitude of 6.7 on the Richter scale. It was followed by 2 aftershocks that both registered at 6.0. It kills 57 people, and costs $50 billion in damages.

Along with the 7.1 that hit San Francisco in 1989, this is as close as California has come to "The Big One" that has been so long predicted, but has not yet come. It was felt as far east as Las Vegas and Phoenix.

The epicenter was actually in Reseda, about a mile and a half south of downtown Northridge, and 23 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Sixteen people were killed as a result of the collapse of the Northridge Meadows apartment complex. The Northridge Fashion Center and California State University, Northridge also sustained very heavy damage, most notably the collapse of parking structures.

The earthquake also gained worldwide attention because of damage to the vast freeway network, which serves millions of commuters every day. The most notable was to the Santa Monica Freeway, Interstate 10, known as the busiest freeway in the United States, congesting nearby surface roads for three months while the freeway was repaired.

Farther north, the Newhall Pass Interchange -- the junction of Interstate 5, the Golden State Freeway, and State Route 14, the Antelope Valley Freeway -- collapsed as it had 23 years earlier, in the 1971 San Fernando Earthquake, even though it had been rebuilt with minor improvements to the structural components.

The quake had an adverse effect on 2 of the Los Angeles area's stadiums. The damage to Anaheim Stadium (now known as Angel Stadium) was relatively minor, but it was enough that the planned filming of a remake of the 1951 baseball classic Angels in the Outfield, even though they could now use a team called the Angels, was moved up the Pacific Coast to the Oakland Coliseum.

And, while it was repaired in time for the 1994 football season, the damage to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was a big reason why the Raiders moved back to Oakland.

The quake may also have been a reason why the Rams moved to St. Louis after the season – for all the good that both of those moves did: The Rams are now back at the Coliseum, waiting for their Inglewood stadium to be finished, and the Raiders are planning to move to Las Vegas.

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January 17, 1994 was a Monday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was between its Conference Championships Games and Super Bowl XXVIII, which the Dallas Cowboys would win over the Buffalo Bills.

There were 7 games in the NBA. None of them involved either of the Los Angeles teams, and it wouldn't have mattered, anyway: Neither The Forum in Inglewood, then the home of the Lakers, nor the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, then the home of the Clippers, sustained any damage. These games were played:

* The New York Knicks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 106-94 at Madison Square Garden. Patrick Ewing scored 34 points.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Washington Bullets, 100-87 at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Center) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 102-98 at The Omni in Atlanta. Dominique Wilkins scored 37 points.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Orlando Magic, 114-107 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Detroit Pistons, 109-94 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 121-91 at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Phoenix Suns, 104-99 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

And there were 5 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Florida Panthers, 2-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Washington Capitals, 3-1 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Boston Bruins beat their fellow New Englanders, the Hartford Whalers, 5-3 at the Boston Garden.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 6-3 -- in a neutral-site game, at the Target Center in Minneapolis. In the early 1990s, the NHL tried several neutral-site games, to gauge interest for future expansion or moves. The 1993-94 season was the 1st without a team in Minnesota since 1966-67, since the Minnesota North Stars had moved to become the Dallas Stars. For 2000-01, the expansion Minnesota Wild began play.

* And the San Jose Sharks beat the Calgary Flames, 3-2 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).

January 10, 1949: Snow In Southern California

January 10, 1949: The Blizzard of '49... in Southern California! As far as anyone knows, this is the 1st time snow has ever fallen on Los Angeles, and the 1st time on San Diego since 1850.

Actually, there is a scientific definition of "blizzard," and this storm did not meet it. A "blizzard" is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time, typically at least three or four hours. In other words, the amount of snowfall has nothing to do with it. Yet any major snowfall tends to get called a "blizzard," whether it meets the definition or not. And any snowfall in Southern California would feel like a "blizzard" to people living there who never lived anywhere else, and weren't used to it.

And, on January 10, 1949, a snowstorm hit Los Angeles and the surrounding areas. It was caused by a weather pattern that brought cold air from Canada and Alaska down to Southern California, where it met with a low-pressure system moving in from the Pacific Ocean.

The result was a snowstorm that dropped up to 4 inches of snow in some areas, and even more in some of the surrounding mountains. The snow caused widespread disruption and excitement, with schools closing, highways becoming blocked, and people flocking to parks and hillsides to play in the snow.

Many residents, especially those who had never experienced snow before, were thrilled by the novelty of the event, while others were less happy about the disruption to their daily lives.

The newspapers of the time reported extensively on the snowstorm, with headlines such as "Snowstorm Paralyzes Southland," "Southland Shivers Under Blanket of Snow," and "Record Snowfall Delights and Inconveniences Angelenos."

It was not unprecedented. It snowed in parts of Los Angeles in 1913, 1921, 1922, 1926 and 1944. But not since 1882, when the Los Angeles Herald was moved to print the headline, "How's That for Semi-Tropical?" had never been as widespread, or as deep, as it was in 1949.

Trace amounts of snow would fall on L.A. again in 1957 and 1962. I wonder what Dodger owner Walter O'Malley, used to the weather in New York, thought about that. At any rate, it hasn't happened since.

UPDATE: In 2025, when discussing Los Angeles weather and its effects that caused the devastating wildfires of the start of that year, Bill Pazeet, a climatologist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, also addressed the city's long snow drought. He blamed it on the urban heat island effect -- paved surfaces are hotter than the natural ground -- and climate change.

Winter temperatures, particularly average daily lows, have risen dramatically over the past 75 years. While he said it's not impossible for it to snow again in Los Angeles, he thinks, based on prediction models, "by 2050, no way."

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January 10, 1949 was a Monday. Future heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman was born.

Baseball and football were out of season. And no NHL games were scheduled. There was 1 game in the Basketball Association of America, the league that would become the NBA the next season: The Washington Capitols beat the Boston Celtics, 94-83 at the Boston Garden. The Caps would reach the BAA Finals, losing to the Minneapolis Lakers. Their coach would later coach the Celtics. His name was Arnold Jacob Auerbach, nicknamed Red even though his red hair was now mostly gone.