Caltrans plans pass closures in advance of storm

Forecasts of an approaching late-season storm system have prompted Caltrans to announce plans to close Highway 4 below Ebbetts Pass and Highway 108 below Sonora Pass at noon on Thursday.

Highway 4 would be closed at the gate at the east end of the reservoir called Lake Alpine in Alpine County, and Highway 108 would be closed at the gate just east of Kennedy Meadows Road, Bob Highfill with Caltrans District 10 said Wednesday in a phone interview.

The planned pass closures would be temporary, Highfill said, and there was no estimated time or date for reopening them.

Forecasters say the approaching storm is expected to bring potential for showers and thunderstorms for several days. It’s a slow-moving system that could bring rain and snow each afternoon and evening through at least Saturday, and possibly Sunday.

The approaching storm system is coming out of the Gulf of Alaska, down the Pacific Northwest coast, and as of 11:15 a.m. Wednesday it was just off the coast of British Columbia, Scott Rowe, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Sacramento, said in a phone interview.

The storm is expected to come inland in the next 24 hours, bringing cooler air, “much cooler than we normally get this time of year,” Rowe said. “One guarantee is we’ll be getting cooler air region-wide across northern and central California. Anywhere from 5 to 15 degrees cooler than normal for mid- to late May.”

Moisture with the approaching storm system is

cooler, Rowe said. It is not tapping into subtropical moisture, but it will bring intermittent showery conditions, with periods of sunshine and periods of cloud cover at higher elevations. Some locations in the foothills and other lower elevations may not get any showers at all.

Rowe emphasized that because this storm system is bringing potential for intermittent showers and thunderstorms each afternoon and evening through at least Saturday, “mornings will be pleasant for the most part.”

The lowest snow levels with the approaching storm — 4,500 feet in some locations — are possible Thursday afternoon and Friday afternoon.

Ebbetts Pass could get 3 to 4 inches of snow and Sonora Pass could get 4 to 6 inches of snow Thursday and Friday.

No rainfall is forecast for Sonora and other foothills towns in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties Thursday and Friday, while Yosemite Valley may get one-tenth to a quarter-inch of rain.

For the current status of mountain passes and highways, go online to https://roads.dot.ca.gov.