Snow dusts mountaintops after Central Coast storm. See the frosty pics
The winter storm that swept through the Central Coast brought a rare sight to the region: snow dusting the tops of the mountains along the Big Sur coast and the Temblor Range east of the Carrizo Plain.
Photos taken by Caltrans District 5 public information chief Kevin Drabinski show light snow topping the coastal mountains between Sand Dollar Beach and Gorda in Monterey County.
It’s an unusual sight for the Central Coast.
Snow last fell in San Luis Obispo County near recognizable spots such as the top of the Cuesta Grade the Carrizo Plain, along with mountaintops across the county in February 2023, during another turbulent winter storm.
The most significant snowfall in the county’s recent history occurred in December 1998 during a storm that closed the Cuesta Grade and closed schools.
This year’s dusting comes at the close of five days of rain, thunder and lightning that brought as much as five inches of rain to parts of the county, with mountaintops such as Rocky Butte getting the most rain.
The storm also closed the recently reopened Highway 1 from Ragged Point Inn to south of Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn on Monday after rockslides and debris rendered the road impassible at multiple locations, with no reopening date currently in sight.
Did you get photos of snow on Central Coast peaks? Email them to jlynch@thetribunenews.com and we’ll add them to this story.
This story was originally published February 18, 2026 at 11:58 AM with the headline "Snow dusts mountaintops after Central Coast storm. See the frosty pics."
