Parts of the Sierra Nevada likely to get 10 feet of snow from powerful storm by weekend

RENO, Nev. — The most powerful Pacific storm of the season is expected to bring up to 10 feet of snow to the Sierra Nevada by the weekend, forcing residents to take shelter and closing at least one ski area in Lake Tahoe on Friday.

The storm began barreling into the region on Thursday, with the biggest impacts expected to close major highways and cause power outages from Friday afternoon through Saturday. A blizzard warning through Sunday morning covers a 300-mile stretch from northern Lake Tahoe to southern Yosemite National Park.

“Your safe travel period in the Sierra is over,” the National Weather Service in Reno posted on social media Thursday morning. “It’s best to settle where you are.”

Meteorologists predict as much as 10 feet of snow is possible in the mountains around Lake Tahoe this weekend, with 3 to 6 feet of snow in lakeside communities and more than 100 feet of snow. centimeters) possible in the valleys on the eastern front of the Sierra, including Reno.

Winds are expected to exceed 113 miles per hour (185 km per hour) over the Sierra Ridgetops, and 70 mph (113 km per hour) at lower elevations.

“This will be a legitimate snowstorm,” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said during an online briefing Thursday. “Really real blizzard conditions with several feet of snow and very high winds, the potential for power outages and the fact that roads are unlikely to be cleared as quickly or as effectively as normal, even during a major winter storm. ”

Backcountry avalanche warnings were in effect around Lake Tahoe, as well as areas around Yosemite National Park extending to Mammoth Lakes.

Alpine Meadows, a subsidiary of neighboring Palisades Tahoe, closed Friday. Palisades planned to open only the lowest slopes, and could end up closing them.

Andrew Schwartz, the lead scientist at UC-Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab, said it’s possible that as of 1989 they could break their modern record of about 3 feet (1 meter) of snow in a single day. The laboratory was founded atop the Sierra in 1946 in Soda Springs, California, northwest of Lake Tahoe.

The California Highway Patrol imposed travel restrictions on a long stretch of Interstate 80 between Reno and Sacramento, requiring drivers to put chains on their tires. A portion of the highway was closed for hours Thursday afternoon as crews cleared the wreckage of a tractor-trailer truck that overturned near Truckee, California.

On the plus side, California water officials said the storm should provide a much-needed boost to the Sierra snowpack, which is vital to the state’s water supply and is well below normal so far this season.

Palisades Tahoe Ski Resort wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the large dump expected this weekend on top of 8 feet of snow in February should allow them to keep the slopes open until Memorial Day. But it warned the snowstorms were likely to lead to temporary closures over the weekend.

Todd Cummings decided to drive from Santa Cruz to the Lake Tahoe area before the storm with plans to stay low during the snowstorm and then hit the slopes.

“When a storm comes in, people have a hard time getting there, so sometimes there’s less crowds on the mountains and there’s trackless, fresh snow that’s super light and you float on it. It’s fantastic!” he said.

Some remained skeptical that it would be as bad as predicted.

Richard Cunningham said he had previously heard about predictions for the storm of the century that have not come true since he moved from Las Vegas to Reno in 1997.

“Same story, different day,” he said. “Sometimes it doesn’t even snow.”

That was before the blue skies gave way to clouds and gusts that blew the roof off a barn east of Reno Thursday afternoon.

Howie Nave, a radio DJ and stand-up comedian in South Lake Tahoe, said some people may not have taken the storm seriously earlier this week because dire predictions of potentially severe storms have failed to materialize several times this winter.

“There were times when I expected a Saint Bernard, but you gave me a Chihuahua,” Nave said of the weather forecasters.

But “everyone here is talking about the storm,” he said. “This is the first time we’ve had a blizzard warning.”

Snowpack in the Sierra Nevada so far has been 80% of average, but only 70% of the typical April 1 peak, California Department of Water Resources officials said Thursday.

“Today’s results show how critical the next month will be in terms of our water supply prospects for the coming year,” hydrometeorologist Angelique Fabbiani-Leon said during a briefing at Phillips Station, a monitoring site south of Lake Tahoe. .

___

Associated Press reporter John Antczak contributed to this report from Los Angeles. Rodriguez reported from San Francisco.