Some residents stranded in Southern California mountain communities by a huge snowfall could be stuck for another week. The estimate by San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus on Friday is an improvement in the outlook, which has ranged up to two weeks. The sheriff attributes the change to the arrival of state assistance. A late-February blast of arctic air produced a rare blizzard east of Los Angeles in the San Bernardino Mountains, where thousands of people live at high elevations in forest communities or visit for year-round recreation. Extraordinary snowfall buried homes and businesses, overwhelming the capability of snowplowing equipment geared toward ordinary storms.
