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A powerful blizzard in the Sierra Nevada mountains was expected to wane Sunday, but more heavy snow is on the way.
The National Weather Service said conditions would improve as winds weakened Sunday, but precipitation would quickly return, with heavy snow in some areas and rainfall in others.
That wasn’t much of a break after a multi-day storm that one meteorologist called “as bad as it gets” closed a key east-west freeway in northern California, shut down ski resorts and left thousands of homes and businesses without power.
By Sunday morning, Pacific Gas & Electric had restored power to all but about 7,000 California customers, while NV Energy had reduced its number to roughly 1,000 homes and businesses. And some ski areas were planning to reopen, albeit with delayed start times and limited operations.“We aren’t outta the woods just yet,” officials at Sierra at Tahoe posted on the resort’s website.
More than 10ft (3 meters) of snow was expected at higher elevations, National Weather Service meteorologist William Churchill said Saturday, creating a “life-threatening concern” for residents near Lake Tahoe and blocking travel on the key east-west freeway.
A second, weaker storm was forecast to bring an additional 1 to 2ft of snow in the region between Monday and Wednesday next week, according to the National Weather Service office in Sacramento.
Near Lake Tahoe, Thomas Petkanas, a bartender at Alibi Ale Works in Incline Village, Nevada, said about 3ft (1 meter) of snow had fallen by midday Saturday. He said patrons shook off snow as they arrived at the brewpub and restaurant.
Earlier, the weather service warned that blowing snow was creating “extremely dangerous to impossible” driving conditions, with wind gusts in the high mountains at more than 100mph (160kph).
Avalanche danger was “high to extreme” in backcountry areas through Sunday evening throughout the central Sierra and greater Lake Tahoe area, the weather service said.
California authorities on Friday shut down 100 miles (160km) of I-80, the main route between Reno and Sacramento, because of “spin outs, high winds, and low visibility”. There was no estimate when the freeway would reopen from the California-Nevada border west of Reno to near Emigrant Gap, California.
Travel was treacherous east of the Sierra, where CalTrans also cited “multiple spin outs and collisions” and “whiteout conditions”, as it closed 90 miles (145km) of US 395 from near Bishop in the Owens Valley to Bridgeport, north of Mono Lake.
Pacific Gas & Electric reported about 7,468 California homes and businesses without power at 5.56pm. NV Energy reported power outages for about 1,500 customers in parts of northern Nevada, including Incline Village and Reno.
In southern Nevada the weather service issued a warning Saturday for high winds gusting to 70mph (145kph). NV Energy reported almost 29,000 customers without power in and around Las Vegas on Saturday, but by that evening the number had been reduced to about 16,000.
The storm began barreling into the region Thursday. A blizzard warning through Sunday morning covers a 300-mile (480-km) stretch of the mountains.
Some ski lovers raced up to the mountains ahead of the storm.
Meteorologists predicted as much as 10ft (3 meters) of snow was possible in the mountains around Lake Tahoe by the weekend, with 3 to 6ft (0.9 to 1.8 meters) in the communities on the lake’s shores and more than a foot (30 centimeters) possible in the valleys on the Sierra’s eastern front, including Reno.
Yosemite National Park closed Friday. Officials said it would remain closed through at least noon Sunday.
