Long stretches of I-80 and Highway 50 closed as snow storm pounds California
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Northern California Winter Storm
A powerful winter storm that lasted through the holiday weekend has hit Northern California with snow and rain. Here’s the latest weather news.
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Read the latest update >> Highway 50 reopens, others still closed in aftermath of Northern California snow storm
Original story:
Long stretches of Highway 50 and Interstate 80 remain closed in the Sierra Nevada mountains and parts of the foothills Monday morning due to very heavy snow and whiteout conditions, Caltrans said. Another mountain highway is closed by an avalanche.
Interstate 80 is closed for more than 75 miles, from Applegate Road south of Colfax through the Nevada state line. Some stretches of I-80 have downed power lines across the roadway that must be cleared, Caltrans said.
Highway 50 is shut down for nearly 50 miles, between Placerville and Meyers, according to Caltrans.
Stretches of other highways are also closed as of 10:30 a.m., Caltrans said:
▪ Highway 89 is closed from Tahoe City to Squaw Valley Road due to an avalanche. No injuries have been reported.
▪ Highway 267 is closed between just south of Truckee and the Highway 28 junction in Placer County.
▪ Eastbound Highway 20 is also shut down in Nevada County, at Nevada Street.
▪ Highway 88 is closed in both directions at Dew Drop, north of Buckhorn in Amador County.
Caltrans in an update just after 10 a.m. said I-80 and Highway 20 will remain closed all of Monday “due to downed trees, power lines and continued heavy snow.”
Highway 49 was closed Monday morning between Downvieville and the Highway 89 junction near Sierraville, but reopened around 10:30 a.m. from the Sierra County line through Highway 70 junction.
There are no estimated times of reopening for the remaining closures, including Highway 50. Authorities advise it is effectively impossible to travel over the summit, and that drivers should not attempt to take back roads, which have the same or worse conditions as the highways.
Just across the state line in Washoe County, Nev., emergency authorities responded to two severe pileups Sunday on Highway 395 that sent at least six people to hospitals, according to the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District. One of the pileups involved about 20 vehicles.
Several feet of snow fell at high Sierra elevations over Christmas weekend. The National Weather Service said by 9 p.m. Sunday, close to 5 feet had fallen at Blue Canyon along I-80.
Powder fell as low as about 2,000 feet, including light snowfall early Monday morning in Placerville, the weather service said.
Snow and rain are forecast to die down later Monday, with snowfall subsiding across most of the Sierra by early or mid-afternoon.
Thousands were without power across the Sierra mountains and foothills Monday morning, according to the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. online outage map, with some of the most widespread outages near the Grass Valley, Nevada City and Truckee areas.
The Palisades Tahoe ski resort announced it will stay closed Monday for safety reasons.
This story was originally published December 27, 2021 at 7:46 AM with the headline "Long stretches of I-80 and Highway 50 closed as snow storm pounds California."
