‘Intense and quick-moving’ snowstorm kilos Sierra, Tahoe

Daily SF News — Sun, 07 Jan 2024 09:14:53 +0000

Ryan Malhoski walks Baxter as snow falls in South Lake Tahoe during a fast-moving storm on Saturday.

Maggie Creamer/The Chronicle

Baxter runs along a South Lake Tahoe road as snow falls during an intense storm on Saturday.

Maggie Creamer/The Chronicle

A South Lake Tahoe road is covered with snow as the area falls under a winter storm warning on Saturday.

Maggie Creamer/The Chronicle

An “intense and quick-moving” snowstorm struck portions of the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades on Saturday, with weather officials warning travelers to avoid mountain travel through Sunday morning.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the particularly conditions expected to pelt the mountain areas of the Sierra Nevada with up to 2 feet of snow at its highest peaks.

“It’ll become very difficult for Caltrans or any of the highway departments to clear the roads,” said Jeffrey Wood, meteorologist for the National Weather Service. “And with that heavy snowfall rate, you can experience near-whiteout conditions.”

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Heavy snowfall accumulations were expected in Mount Shasta City, Dunsmuir, Donner Pass and Truckee, according to forecasts from the National Weather Service. Donner Summit should accumulate up to 2 feet of snow.

Baxter runs along a South Lake Tahoe road as snow falls during a fast-moving storm on Saturday.Maggie Creamer The Chronicle

The heaviest of the snow pelts were felt Saturday morning into the afternoon, Wood said. Snowfall rates could reach up to 2 inches per hour.

“Typical snowstorms (are) a half an inch or an inch per hour,” Wood said. “Anytime we start to see snowfall rates greater than an inch is when we start seeing the real impactful conditions, particularly on roadways.”

Blizzard-like conditions were possible along Interstate 80 continuing into the evening. Gusty winds of up to 50 mph could snap tree limbs, cause power outages and lead to whiteout conditions. The California Highway Patrol enacted chain requirements for vehicles on I-80 over Donner Summit from Truckee to Eagle Lake late Saturday morning and reported spinouts and collisions by the afternoon.

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Authorities shut down a portion of westbound I-80 in Truckee for just under two hours Saturday afternoon after multiple cars spun out on the road, according to the California Highway Patrol. Officials from Truckee Meadows Fires and Rescue said they had responded to several motor vehicle accidents on the road by Saturday night. The agency warned residents not to travel unless necessary due to the heavy snow conditions.

“SLOW DOWN!! ,” CHP Truckee posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The California Highway Patrol’s Truckee office reported spinouts and collisions on Interstate 80 at Donner Summit during Saturday’s winter storm.

California Highway Patrol

Tahoe Daily Snow, which provides forecasting and measurements, reported accumulations of 2 to 3 inches of snow per hour in the upper mountains, with about 9 inches accumulated around 2 p.m. Saturday.

For those who need to travel, weather officials urge motorists to winterize their vehicles, prepare an emergency kit with warm clothes, food and water, and slow down on their routes.

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The storm system also brought rain and gusty winds to the Bay Area on Saturday. Highs were barely in the 50s in San Francisco, where residents popped out their umbrellas during a heavy afternoon shower.

Heavy rain falls on a pedestrian crossing Fulton Street in San Francisco on Saturday.

Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

A dusting of snow was possible by Sunday in Mount Hamilton in Santa Clara County, the Bay Area’s tallest peak at about 4,200 feet. The valleys of the North, East and South Bay were expected to be near freezing by Sunday morning.

Warren Pederson and Megan Fan Munce contributed to this report.

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Snowstorm shifting by means of US may disrupt vacation weekend journey

Daily SF News — Sat, 25 Nov 2023 21:54:41 +0000

A cross-country storm bringing snow and rain to a large portion of the U.S. over the next several days could disrupt the tail end of a busy holiday travel weekend, forecasts show.

More than 9 million Americans across 13 states from Idaho to Texas were under weather alerts on Friday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

Heavy snow has already fallen in the Rocky Mountains and western Plains, with the highest accumulations in places like Luther, Montana, at 10 inches; Heyburn, Idaho, at 8.7 inches; and 8 inches in Fishtail, Montana.

The system won’t move much throughout the day on Sunday, and snow will continue to fall over Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Wind chills within the storm, including in Casper, Wyoming, were down to zero on Friday morning.

The storm will also push snow and rain into New Mexico to the south and snow showers all the way through Nebraska and into Kansas to the east, forecasts show.

On Saturday, the snow will primarily fall through Kansas and western Oklahoma and into the northern panhandle of Texas. Snow may reach places like Kansas City, Missouri, Saturday afternoon and move through northern Missouri into the night.

Rain is expected in the southern half of Missouri on Saturday, as the bottom portion of the system mixes with warmer air.

The storm is expected to bring an additional 6 to 12 inches of snow to the Rockies on Saturday, with more than a foot expected in the southwestern part of Colorado, including Telluride.

Nebraska will get between 3 to 6 inches of snow on Saturday, while parts of Kansas to western Oklahoma are expected to see 4 to 6 inches.

The storm system will continue to move east on Sunday, the busiest travel day of the year.

Snow will start falling in Chicago by 6 a.m. on Sunday and continue through the afternoon.

The storm will then move through Michigan, including Detroit.

The system is expected to change to rain as it moves east and into warmer temperatures, bringing rain to Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee on Sunday night. Rain will also move through the South, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

The Northeast will start to see the effects of the storm early Monday. Snow may fall in higher elevations of upper New England, but the rest of the region will get rain.

The rain is expected to move through New York City and the Interstate 95 corridor south of the city between midnight and 7 a.m. on Monday, forecasts show. Farther north, in Boston, rain will fall between 3 a.m. and noon.

The storm system will then exit through Maine by midnight on Tuesday, but that won’t be the end of inclement weather.

A lake effect snow is forecast on Tuesday for the Great Lake Region, including Cleveland; Erie, Pennsylvania; and Rochester and Syracuse, New York, forecasts show.

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‘Intense and quick-moving’ snowstorm kilos Sierra, Tahoe

Snowstorm shifting by means of US may disrupt vacation weekend journey