Sacramento weather: More rain and gusts; handful of schools still closed amid outages
As the Sacramento region continues to recover from a series of strong atmospheric river storms that have pounded Northern California most of the past two weeks, more wet and gusty weather was expected Wednesday, though major flood risk appears to have waned near the capital.
Another atmospheric river rolling through Northern California was forecast to bring up to about half an inch of rain as well as gusts above 30 mph to the capital region. The heaviest impacts of the storm were expected farther north of the capital region, according to the National Weather Service.
The Sacramento area has faced much stronger storms in recent days. Howling gusts early Sunday morning topped 70 mph at one point, resulting in power outages for nearly 350,000 Sacramento Municipal Utility District customers. Early Tuesday morning, a powerful thunderstorm brought gusts above 50 mph, toppling more trees and snarling morning traffic.
However, Sacramento County emergency officials on Tuesday morning also lifted a mandatory evacuation order that had been in place since Sunday evening for Wilton and surrounding areas.
Authorities had warned Sunday that flooding along the Cosumnes River was “imminent,” but the river at Michigan Bar ultimately remained about 2 feet below its flood stage.
Floodwaters have shown signs of receding in Sacramento County, as both the Cosumnes and Mokelumne rivers south of Elk Grove are now forecast to stay below their flood stages through at least this coming weekend, officials said Tuesday.
Just 10 days into the year, the city has received 4.5 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service.
Rain has fallen in Sacramento for 16 of the last 17 days, and measurable precipitation has been collected in the downtown Sacramento rain gauge for 14 consecutive days — from Dec. 28 to Wednesday’s trace amounts. That’s close to the all-time record for consecutive days of rainfall, 16 days in February 1992.
Other parts of the state suffered more severe impacts from this week’s storms. Merced County’s Bear Creek overflowed, forcing mandatory evacuations for the town of Planada, home to about 4,000 people. Emergency and transportation officials have reported mud and rock slides, as well as sinkholes opening up on some roadways, including one reported Wednesday morning by Yuba County officials on Hammonton-Smartville Road.
A flood watch issued by the weather service for much of Northern California, including the entire Sacramento Valley, has been extended through noon Thursday.
Sacramento should see a brief break in rain Thursday, but showers could resume early Friday morning and into the weekend as yet another storm system arrives.
Some Sacramento County schools remain closed
John Barrett Middle School, in Carmichael, and Cordova High remained closed Wednesday. Both schools were also closed Tuesday. All other Folsom Cordova Unified and San Juan Unified campuses were open Wednesday.
Sacramento City Unified, which closed all of its campuses Monday and five schools Tuesday due to power outages, reopened all schools Wednesday.
All Elk Grove Unified campuses were also open Wednesday, after a few of its schools were closed earlier in the week.
SMUD still working to restore power
SMUD as of Wednesday afternoon reported roughly 4,000 homes and businesses without power across Sacramento County — a total that has gradually been slimmed down since Sunday’s mass outages.
The utility company in a Tuesday news release said more than 300 of its power poles have been knocked down in the recent storms.
Heavy snow blankets the mountains
Several more inches of snow were expected Wednesday in the central Sierra Nevada mountains, after storms Monday and Tuesday dumped feet of fresh powder.
The weather service has a winter weather advisory in effect from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Another 2 to 5 inches were expected across the greater Lake Tahoe area, with totals up to 10 inches possible at elevations above 7,000 feet.
Winds could gust up to 70 mph in the mountains, the weather service said.
Close to 2 feet of snow fell Tuesday across the central Sierra range following about 1 foot Monday. The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab, located near Donner Pass, said Wednesday morning that it recorded 22 inches of snow in the preceding 24 hours, bringing its total for the past week to just over 6 feet.
Mountain travel has been highly discouraged all week, with Caltrans live traffic cameras showing whiteout conditions on some portions of Interstate 80. Traffic on I-80 and Highway 50 has been closed at various points due to dangerous weather.
This story was originally published January 11, 2023 at 8:48 AM.
