I-80 partially reopening through Sierra as threat of snow, showers lingers
Interstate 80 began partially reopening through the Sierra Nevada on Monday morning after a punishing blizzard that dropped several feet of snow across the Lake Tahoe region, limiting travel between the popular tourist spot and much of the region.
A blizzard warning for the northern Sierra expired shortly before 12:30 a.m. Monday, and was replaced by the National Weather Service with a winter storm warning as the threat of snow continued to hound the region. Four to 10 more inches of powder was expected to fall on Donner Pass between Monday morning and early Wednesday, according to Dakari Anderson, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
“We’re on the downtrend of things,” Anderson said. “Hopefully they will be able to get out there and really start to dig out of the snow.”
California authorities reported that I-80 remained closed to all tractor-semitrailer combinations from Applegate in Placer County to the Nevada state line due to traction concerns. Chains are required on all vehicles except 4-wheel-drive vehicles with snow tires on all four wheels from 2.1 miles east of Baxter in Placer to the Nevada state line.
Highway 50 out of South Lake Tahoe remained open, albeit with chain restrictions.
The storm system that swung into California from the Gulf of Alaska late last week marked the biggest dumping of snow for the Sierra Nevada this season, with remarkable totals at ski resorts across the Lake Tahoe region.
Sugar Bowl Summit received 10 1/2 feet of snow over the past four days, while Palisades Tahoe received nearly 8 feet of snow, Anderson said. Kirkwood, near Carson Pass on the southern side of Lake Tahoe, received nearly 5 feet of snow, he said.
The blizzard provided a huge boost to the Sierra Nevada snowpack, the source of nearly one-third of California’s water supply. On Friday, the statewide snowpack was 84% of its historical average. By Monday, it had jumped to 104%. With many reservoirs around the state already at above-average storage levels, the new bounty of snow all but guarantees most communities in California will have ample water supplies this summer.
Palisades Tahoe, the largest ski resort on the north end of Lake Tahoe, was among several ski mountains that closed most or all chairlifts for a second straight day Sunday because of snow, wind and low visibility. Palisades reported a three-day snow total of 6 feet, with more falling.
The resort planned to at least partially reopen Monday but warned that delays were possible, noting on its website that “Mother Nature often has her own plans.”
Kevin Dupui, who lives in Truckee, just northwest of Lake Tahoe, said his snow blower broke, but it doesn’t really matter because there’s nowhere to put all the snow anyway. “We just move it around,” he said Sunday.
Dupui said residents and tourists seem to be mostly heeding warnings to stay home. “The roads haven’t been that safe, so we don’t really want people driving around,” he said.
Another Truckee resident, Jenelle Potvin, said at first some cynical locals thought “there was a little too much hype” made about the approaching storm. But then the unrelenting snow began Friday night.
“It was definitely a blizzard. And we woke up to a lot of snow yesterday and it never let up,” Potvin said Sunday.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.