A warning of freezing cold in Palmdale

Antelope Valley residents should prepare for bitter weather until Friday, forecasters say.

Antelope Valley residents are in for a cold couple of days.

A frost warning issued for Wednesday morning — meaning temperatures could hover just above 32 degrees — was to be followed by an advisory for possible freezing temperatures after sundown, the National Weather Service said.

The freeze advisory is in place for Lancaster, Palmdale and surrounding communities through Thursday morning but could stretch into Friday, the weather service said.

Residents in freeze-advisory areas are advised to keep pets and plants that are vulnerable to cold inside while the advisory is in place.

By the weekend, it could warm up a few degrees, meteorologist Richard Thompson said.

The expected cold weather follows what was the warmest recorded October for much of Southern California, including Long Beach, downtown L.A. and Oxnard. It was the thirdwarmest October in Lancaster.

“It’s like flipping a switch” this time of year, Thompson said.

Skies were crystal clear Wednesday morning after two days of wet weather cleared out and allowed temperatures to drop dramatically overnight in Los Angeles County mountains, valleys and deserts.

There were scattered showers across Southern California on Monday, and farther north, from Mammoth Mountain to Truckee, resort communities had 11 to 30 inches of snow in a single day.

The snowfall was so bountiful in Mammoth that resorts decided to open Thursday rather than wait for Veterans Day, tourism officials said.