Caltrans closes Sierra Nevada passes for the season
Sonora Pass on Highway 108, Ebbetts Pass on Highway 4 and Tioga Pass on Highway 120 are now closed for winter, state Department of Transportation officials in Bishop and Stockton decided Thursday morning.
Storms this week and accumulation of snow made the seasonal closures necessary
for safety of motorists and roads crews, Caltrans District 9 and District 10 staff said in an announcement.
The second of two storms this week was exiting the Mother Lode as of Thursday morning, Hannah Chandler-cooley, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Sacramento, said in a phone interview.
“This is the tail end of the storm,” Chandler-cooley said Thursday. “We should have light rain showers at lower elevations and snow showers above 3,000 feet through the afternoon. It should remain cloudy through sundown as the storm exits east.”
Chandler-cooley said snow
was estimated to be 30 to 40 inches deep at Sonora Pass as of 11 a.m. Thursday, while snow at Ebbetts Pass was estimated to be 40 to 50 inches deep.
Caltrans District 10 staff said snow at the top of the passes was ranging from 4 feet to 5 feet deep.
The state transportation agency has closed Sonora Pass for the season on Dec. 15 or later five times out of the past 12 winters, according to records. The earliest winter closure of the High Sierra route was Nov. 16, 2015, while the latest was Jan. 21, 2012, at the start of a historic five-year drought.
Ebbetts Pass has closed for the season on Dec. 15 or later four times over the past 12 years. The earliest closing was Nov. 22, 2010. The latest closing was Jan. 25, 2012.
Caltrans has also closed Monitor Pass on Highway 89, which connects Ebbetts Pass and Highway 4 to U.S. Route 395 on the Eastside Sierra.
Other state roads Caltrans has closed for the winter include Highway 120 East between Lee Vining and Tioga Pass, the east entrance to Yosemite National Park.
Highway 120 in the park, Tioga Road, has been closed due to snow and ice since Oct. 21. Caltrans officials said the National Park Service has closed the route for winter, as well.
Once the high mountain passes are closed for the winter, Caltrans says they will remain closed until conditions warrant re-opening. The agency aims to open the passes by Memorial Day weekend each spring.
Sonora Pass is the state's second-highest paved route over the Central Sierra crest at 9,624 feet at the Tuolumne-mono county line. Ebbetts Pass is at 8,730 feet in Alpine County. Monitor Pass on Highway 89 is at the Alpine-mono county line.
Caltrans emphasized in their pass closures announcement that the agency is hiring heavy equipment operators to help with winter operations in Tuolumne, Calaveras and Amador counties. For more information visit www.calcareers. ca.gov online.