The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Blizzard-hit Sierra Nevada braces for more snow
Second storm forecast to bring additional 1 to 2 feet of snow through Wednesday.
TRUCKEE, CALIF. — Keep the shovels handy: A powerful blizzard in the Sierra Nevada was expected to wane Sunday, but more heavy snow is on the way.
The National Weather Service said conditions would improve as winds weakened Sunday, but precipitation would quickly return, with heavy snow in some areas and rainfall in others.
“We still have some showers ongoing especially up in the Sierra, and that will kind of continue throughout this afternoon, and then finally taper off overnight tonight,” said Justin Collins, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno. “That’s kind of the wrap-up of the storm, if you will, and we’re going to have a few more waves come through early this week.”
That wasn’t much of a break after a multiday storm that one meteorologist called “as bad as it gets” closed a key east-west freeway in Northern California, shut down ski resorts and left thousands of homes and businesses without power.
By Sunday morning, Pacific Gas & Electric had restored power to all but about 7,000 California customers, while NV Energy had reduced its number to roughly 1,000 homes and businesses. And some ski areas were planning to reopen, albeit with delayed start times and limited operations.
“We aren’t outta the woods just yet,” officials at Sierra at Tahoe posted on the resort’s website.
Palisades Tahoe, the largest resort on the north end of Lake Tahoe and site of the 1960 Winter Olympics, closed all chairlifts Saturday because of snow, wind and low visibility. It planned to reopen late Sunday morning after getting an estimated 5 feet of snow on the upper mountain as of Saturday night.
“We will be digging out for the foreseeable future,” officials said on the resort’s blog.
Collins, the meteorologist, said some ski areas reported getting nearly 7 feet of snow. More than 10 feet of snow was expected at higher elevations, National Weather Service
meteorologist William Churchill said Saturday, creating a “life-threatening concern” for residents near Lake Tahoe and blocking travel on the east-west freeway. He called the storm an “extreme blizzard” for the Sierra Nevada but said he didn’t expect records to be broken.
“It’s certainly just about as bad as it gets in terms of the snow totals and the winds,” Churchill said. “It doesn’t get much worse than that.”
The storm began barreling into the region Thursday. A blizzard warning through Sunday morning covered a 300-mile stretch of the mountains. A second, weaker storm was forecast to bring an additional 1 to 2 feet of snow in the region today through Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service office in Sacramento. Near Lake Tahoe, the Alibi Ale Works brewpub and restaurant was one of the few businesses open Saturday. Bartender Thomas Petkanas said about 3 feet of snow had fallen by midday, and patrons were shaking off snow as they arrived.
“It’s snowing pretty hard out there, really windy, and power is out to about half the town,” Petkanas said.
California authorities on Friday shut down 100 miles of I-80, the main route between Reno and Sacramento, because of “spin outs, high winds, and low visibility.” There was no estimate when the freeway would reopen from the California-Nevada border west of Reno to near Emigrant Gap, California.
Rudy Islas spent about 40 minutes shoveling his car out before heading to work at a coffee shop in Truckee, California, on Sunday morning. Neither he nor his customers were fazed by the snow, he said.
“To be honest, if you’re a local, it’s not a big deal,” he said. “I think a lot of people are used to the snow, and they prepare for it.”
TEL AVIV, ISRAEL — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuked a top Cabinet minister arriving in Washington on Sunday for talks with U.S. officials, according to an Israeli official, signaling widening cracks within the country’s leadership nearly five months into its war with Hamas.
The trip by Benny Gantz, a centrist political rival who joined Netanyahu’s wartime Cabinet following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, comes as friction between the U.S. and Netanyahu is rising over how to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and what the postwar plan for the enclave should look like.
An official from Netanyahu’s far-right Likud party said Gantz’s trip was planned without authorization from the Israeli leader. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Netanyahu had a “tough talk” with Gantz and told him the country has “just one prime minister.”
Gantz is scheduled to meet on today with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and national security adviser Jake Sullivan and on Tuesday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to his National Unity Party. A second Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity said Gantz’s visit is intended to strengthen ties with the U.S., bolster support for Israel’s war and push for the release of Israeli hostages.
In Egypt, talks were underway to broker a cease-fire before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins next week.
Israel did not send a delegation because it is waiting for answers from Hamas on two questions, according to a third Israeli government official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Israeli media reported that the government is waiting to learn which hostages are alive and how many Palestinian prisoners Hamas seeks in exchange for each.
All three Israeli officials spoke anonymously because they weren’t authorized to discuss the disputes with the media.
On Saturday, the U.S. airdropped aid into Gaza. The airdrops came after dozens of Palestinians rushing to grab food from an Israel-organized convoy were killed last week, and they circumvented an aid delivery system that has been hobbled by Israeli restrictions, logistical issues and fighting in Gaza. Aid officials say airdrops are far less effective than deliveries made by trucks.
U.S. priorities in the region have increasingly been hampered by Netanyahu’s Cabinet, which is dominated by ultranationalists. Gantz’s more moderate party at times acts as a counterweight.
Netanyahu’s popularity has dropped since the war broke out, according to most opinion polls. Many Israelis hold him responsible for failing to stop the Oct. 7 cross-border raid by Hamas, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took roughly 250 people as hostages into Gaza, including women, children and older adults, according to Israeli authorities.
More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, around twothirds of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters. Around 80% of the population of 2.3 million have fled their homes, and U.N. agencies say hundreds of thousands are on the brink of famine.
Israelis critical of Netanyahu say his decision-making has been tainted by political considerations, a charge he denies. The criticism is particularly focused on plans for postwar Gaza. Netanyahu wants Israel to maintain openended security control over Gaza, with Palestinians running civilian affairs.
The U.S. wants to see progress on the creation of a Palestinian state, envisioning a revamped Palestinian leadership running Gaza with an eye toward eventual statehood.
That vision is opposed by Netanyahu and the hard-liners in his government. Another top Cabinet official from Gantz’s party has questioned the handling of the war and the strategy for freeing the hostages.
Netanyahu’s government, Israel’s most conservative and religious ever, has also been rattled by a court-ordered deadline for a new bill to broaden military enlistment of ultra-Orthodox Jews. Many of them are exempted from military service so they can pursue religious studies.