Storm updates: Part of Highway 50 closed as blizzard conditions descend on Tahoe area
An extreme winter storm is expected to bring blizzard conditions to California’s Sierra Nevada mountains starting Monday and lasting through midweek, including feet of snow and fierce winds likely to render mountain travel impossible, weather forecasts show.
The National Weather Service has issued a rare blizzard warning for wide swaths of the central and southern Sierra range, including the entire greater Lake Tahoe area, due to heavy snow coupled with gusts up to 50 mph in some areas and up to 70 mph at high ridges.
The blizzard warning, which is the first issued by the weather service’s Sacramento office since January 2021, is in place through 4 a.m. Wednesday.
Snow will fall to very low elevations. The weather service predicted 3 to 7 feet at elevations above 3,000 feet; 1 to 3 feet at elevations between 2,000 feet and 3,000 feet; and up to 5 inches at lower elevations, including portions of the northern Sacramento Valley.
Serious travel impediments are already underway. Highway 50 was closed in both directions between Echo Summit and Meyers as of 7:15 a.m. due to avalanche control, Caltrans said Monday morning, with no estimated time of reopening.
The Sierra Avalanche Center in Truckee issued a backcountry avalanche warning along stretches of Highway 4 and Highway 49, in effect from Monday through Wednesday morning.
The weather service in social media posts said mountain travel will be “extremely dangerous to impossible” through Wednesday morning.
The latest severe winter storm comes amid “persistent troughing” low-pressure systems in the U.S. West, according to a weather service bulletin. The current system is plunging temperatures as much as 25 degrees below average, leading to the low-elevation snow.
The peak of the storm is anticipated Monday afternoon through Tuesday, weather service forecasts show. Whiteout conditions are expected on mountain highways both days.
Snowfall is forecast to ease up by Wednesday morning, clearing out by Wednesday evening. More snow is expected this coming weekend, with amounts not yet settled.
Cold and rainy in California’s capital region
In Sacramento, forecasts call for about a half-inch of rain Monday and a similar amount Tuesday, with more precipitation possible in the event of thunderstorms, which are possible Monday afternoon and evening. Gusts around 20 mph Monday are expected to strengthen to about 30 mph Tuesday in the capital region.
Daytime high temperatures around 50 degrees will give way to nighttime lows in the high 30s Monday and around 30 degrees Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
Rain is expected to clear out by Wednesday morning.
Storm could knock out power in mountains and foothills
Heavy snow may lead to significant and widespread power outages, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. warned.
Close to 30,000 homes and businesses served by PG&E were without power as of 8 a.m. Monday, including in portions of Butte, Fresno, Humboldt, Lake, Madera, Nevada and Placer counties.
