Photo by Jennifer Kendall

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a winter weather advisory Sunday along several coasts in southern California. The storm is bringing snow to Los Angeles and big waves to local beaches after causing some damage in northern California Saturday.

The NWS said there will be driving hazards today across the north slopes of the Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo County, Santa Barbara County, Ventura County and Los Angeles County mountains, including the I-5 freeway. "People are strongly urged to avoid the surf zone," due to dangerous surf and rip currents that will affect all beaches today.

AP reported winds gusting to 55 mph and accumulations snow at elevations above 4,500 feet prompted the NWS to issue the winter weather advisory for the mountains of northern LA County. AP also cited NWS meteorologist Bill Forwood, who said swells of 15 feet were reported Sunday at Hermosa Beach and waves topping eight feet were spotted off San Diego.

The OC Register ran a story about how the wild weather proved to be a challenge for competitors in the Vans Pier Classic surfing competition in Huntington Beach this morning.

• "I've surfed Huntington really big at the US Open – but never this out of control," said Hawaiian Keanu Asing. "It's like victory-at-sea out there. I thought I was going to drown, I was so cold. I just grabbed on my rails… and I was just hanging on for my life. You know what, 'I'm going in.' There's two minutes left, and I just crossed my fingers and got washed in."
• Strong winds whipped throughout the entire day, and there was plenty of swell in the water with waves up to 10-foot for surfers  on the final day of the ASP 4-star event, which kicked off in Huntington last Wednesday.

The NWS said gusts up to 45 mph will affect much of southern California through Monday afternoon.

Read about some of the damages done in northern California as a result of the storm by The San Francisco Chronicle.

Reach Executive Producer Rosa Trieu here. Follow her on Twitter.