SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Heavy snow fell within the Sierra Nevada as a winter storm packing highly effective winds despatched ski elevate chairs swinging and closed mountain highways whereas downpours at decrease elevations triggered flood watches Sunday throughout giant swaths of California into Nevada.
Greater than 250 miles of the Sierra from north of Reno south to Yosemite Nationwide Park remained below winter storm warnings both till late Sunday or early Monday.
The Heavenly ski resort at Lake Tahoe shut down some operations on Saturday when the brunt of the storm hit. The resort posted video of elevate chairs swaying violently due to gusts that topped 100 mph, together with a tweeted reminder that wind closures are “at all times in your security.”
To the south, Mammoth Mountain reported that greater than 20 inches of snow fell Saturday, with one other 2 toes doable on Sunday because the tail finish of the system strikes by way of the japanese Sierra.
The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab reported Sunday morning that greater than 43 inches had fallen in a 48-hour span.
A 70-mile stretch of eastbound U.S. Interstate 80 was closed Saturday “on account of zero visibility” from the northern California city of Colfax to the Nevada state line, transportation officers mentioned. Chains had been required on a lot of the remainder of I-80 within the mountains from Reno towards Sacramento.
A stretch of California Freeway 89 additionally was closed on account of heavy snow between Tahoe Metropolis and South Lake Tahoe, the freeway patrol mentioned.
The U.S. Forest Service issued an avalanche warning for the backcountry within the mountains west of Lake Tahoe, the place, it mentioned, “a number of toes of recent snow and robust winds will lead to harmful avalanche circumstances.”
Gusts as much as 50 mph that despatched bushes into properties in Sonoma County north of San Francisco on Saturday may attain 100 mph over Sierra ridgetops on Sunday, the Nationwide Climate Service mentioned.
Heavy rain was forecast by way of the weekend from San Francisco to the Sierra crest with as much as 2 inches within the Bay Space and as much as 5 inches at Grass Valley northeast of Sacramento.
Warnings and watches had been additionally up throughout Southern California, as heavy rain brought on localized flooding in larger Los Angeles.
“Important journey delays doable with accumulating snow on a number of mountain roads. This might embrace the Tejon Cross and Grapevine space of Interstate 5,” the Nationwide Climate Service mentioned in an announcement.
Because the storm exits California and Nevada, it can push throughout the nation and attain the Plains by mid-week, bringing important rain and below-average temperatures, mentioned Marc Chenard, meteorologist on the Nationwide Climate Service on the nationwide heart in School Park, Maryland.
“It is going to be a busy week whereas this technique strikes throughout the nation,” Chenard mentioned Sunday.