Low snow possible by early next week
Weekend storms are still on track to bring rain and snow to the Central Sierra foothills and mountain communities in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties, and forecasters Friday were eyeing a stronger system that could bring snow to Sonora late Tuesday.
There were still hundreds of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers in Mi-wuk Village and Twain Harte without power Friday afternoon and Friday morning, when rain from the first of three expected storms began falling in downtown Sonora. A second storm was expected Sunday into Monday, and the third, stronger storm was expected to arrive Tuesday evening or Tuesday night.
By 4:30 p.m. Friday, power had been restored to more than 1,140 PG&E customers in the Crystal Falls, Belleview and Sonora Meadows area, northeast of East Sonora. That outage was reported at 10:55 a.m. Friday, after rains began falling Friday morning, Megan Mcfarland with PG&E marketing and communications said in a phone interview. The outage was caused by a tree branch that fell into a power line
on Creekside Drive.
As of 5 p.m. Friday, outages remaining from Tuesday’s windstorm included 886 PG&E customers without power in Mi-wuk Village, 61 customers in Twain Harte, 44 customers in Strawberry, and scattered outages in Sugarpine and Long Barn, Mcfarland said.
Charging stations were set up by PG&E at Word of Life Fellowship, 24630 Highway 108 in Mi-wuk Village; and at Chapel in the Pines, 2286 Cedar Lane in Arnold. Hours for both charging stations were listed by PG&E as 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily.
Mcfarland reminded everyone in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties that if they see damaged, downed power poles or power lines, do not touch anything, stay away, call 911 first, then call PG&E at (800) 7435000.
“There’s high confidence that third system, arriving late Tuesday, is going to be widespread and broad enough, and it will hit an area that includes Calaveras and Tuolumne,” Eric Kurth, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Sacramento, said Friday in a phone interview.
“Potentially heavy snow and pretty low snow levels are possible,” Kurth said. “We could see where Sonora could potentially get several inches of snow, starting below 2,000 feet initially. Lower snow would come late Tuesday night, and it could extend potentially down to places like Sonora.”
Forecasts for the first storm included a winter weather advisory through 10 p.m. Friday for mountain foothill towns like Avery, Arnold, Twain Harte and Mi-wuk Village. The first storm could bring a quarter-inch to a half-inch of rain to Sonora and Yosemite Valley, and up to 4 inches of snow to Ebbetts and Sonora passes.
Saturday and Saturday night are expected to be clear and dry, and the second storm is expected to arrive Sunday and continue into Monday, with potential for one-half to 1 inch of rain to Sonora, and up to 6 inches of snow to Central Sierra passes.
The third, stronger storm is expected late Tuesday with “potential to bring major impacts to the Sierra with heavy snow,” forecasters said Friday. Longer-term, less accurate forecasts show potential for rain and snow chances continuing in Calaveras and Tuolumne through the end of next week.
The third storm system is expected to arrive late Tuesday with low snow levels, around 2,000 feet elevation, and snow levels could remain low overnight into Wednesday morning, Kurth said. Snow levels are expected to rise Wednesday up to 4,500 feet through the rest of next week.
As of Friday morning, before rains from the first storm began falling, the Central Sierra region that includes the Stanislaus and Tuolumne river watersheds had received 5 inches precipitation since Oct. 1 when the current water year began. That 5 inches was 27 percent of average for the date Jan. 22.