Some California areas get more than 7 feet of snow
A winter storm warning remained in effect through Tuesday afternoon as a blizzard continued to slam the Sierra Nevada with hurricane-force winds and several feet of snow.
“Travel could be very difficult to impossible,” the National Weather Service said. “Gusty winds could bring down tree branches.”
The life-threatening storm dumped over 7 feet of snow through Sunday at California’s Donner Peak, an 8,000foot summit in the Sierra Nevada, the National Weather Service said. Areas surrounding Reno, Nevada, recorded more than a foot of snow.
More than 8,000 utility customers were without power Monday morning, according to a database maintained by USA TODAY. Sections of major highways in northern California and western Nevada remained closed to semitrucks and vehicles without chains or snow tires, including a stretch of Interstate 80, according to the California Department of Transportation.
The blizzard began late last week but was most intense on Sunday, when wind gusted to 190 mph and whiteout conditions left hundreds stranded in their cars for hours.
In northern California and southern Oregon, the National Weather Service forecast up to 10 inches of snow at elevations above 3,500 feet.
The Tahoe Truckee and Lake Tahoe unified school districts were among those canceling classes Monday.
Climate change is having a noticeable impact on storms like these, experts say.
Snow lines – the points marking where rainfall turns to snow – are moving higher, said Alexander Gershunov, a research meteorologist at the University of California, San Diego. And they’re moving higher with snow from atmospheric rivers than from other winter storms.
In the high southern Sierra Nevada, for example, snow lines are projected to rise by more than 1,600 feet by the end of the century.
A group of scientists in the East recently found that more snow is falling during the top 5% of snowiest days, even though snow is falling fewer days a year on average.
Contributing: John Bacon, Jorge L. Ortiz and Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY