Ski areas shut down as blizzard hits Sierra Nevada

A rare blizzard sent its final flurries of snow and high winds through California’s Sierra Nevada on Sunday, keeping some major roads closed and shutting down ski resorts from Lake Tahoe to Mammoth.

Mammoth Mountain Ski Area was closed as powerful winds of up to 70 mph, with higher gusts, whipped through the mountains, blowing snow.

“It is still far too windy to operate and allow Lift Maintenance to safely complete their checks or Ski Patrol to complete their necessary avalanche mitigation,” Mammoth Mountain said on its website.

The blizzard dumped 5 to 7 feet of snow in parts of the Sierra Nevada over the weekend. The National Weather Service in Sacramento said a rare blizzard warning would remain in effect until midnight Sunday for areas above 6,500 feet elevation, while other parts of the Sierra Nevada were under a winter storm warning.

Snow continued to fall across the mountains on Sunday, with an additional 1 to 2 feet of snow forecast in areas above 4,000 feet elevation.

A snowplow is used to clear a road during a storm in Truckee on Saturday.

(Brooke Hess-Homeier / Associated Press)

The heavy snow led to several road closures over the weekend. U.S. Highway 50 reopened on Sunday morning, allowing vehicles with chains to reach the South Lake Tahoe area.

Just west of Echo Summit on Highway 50, a few vehicles were temporarily stuck in several feet of snow that slid off the mountainside onto the road, said Steve Nelson, a spokesperson for the California Department of Transportation. He said a crew towed the vehicles out, and no one was injured.

On the north side of Lake Tahoe, Interstate 80 remained closed due to snow for a third day.

And in the Eastern Sierra, U.S. Highway 395 was closed in Mono County, where Caltrans crews were working to clear the snow.

Even as the blizzard conditions began to ease, the National Weather Service urged people to avoid driving in the mountains.

“Winds can get up to 45 miles an hour at those higher elevations, and with snow still falling, that causes really dangerous travel conditions,” said Sara Purdue, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento. “We’re highly discouraging travel to the mountain areas still.”

Snow covers the landscape in front of a store in Truckee, Calif. The biggest storm of the season shut down a long stretch of Interstate 80 and gusty winds and heavy rain hit lower elevations, leaving tens of thousands of homes without power.

(Brooke Hess-Homeier / Associated Press)

Another approaching storm is expected to bring more snow on Monday and Tuesday in the Sierra Nevada.

“It won’t be quite as impactful as this system. But we’re still looking at potentially multiple feet of snow at higher elevations,” Perdue said.

The snow and high winds made for hazardous or unworkable conditions at various ski resorts. At Palisades Tahoe, all ski lifts were closed Sunday because of “intense weather conditions.”

Sierra-at-Tahoe said on its website that “the storm’s intensity did not let up — in fact it doubled down overnight,” with winds piling up deep snowdrifts that workers were in the process of clearing.

South of Tahoe, Kirkwood Mountain Resort said it opened some of its ski lifts after initially putting them on hold to ensure safety.

The blizzard arrived with extremely powerful wind gusts, which reached up to 190 mph at one location Friday night. The National Weather Service said wind gusts stronger than 100 mph were expected in parts of the Sierra through early Monday.

An avalanche warning was in effect in the Eastern Sierra. The National Weather Service warned people against going into backcountry areas — such as those thinking of cross-country skiing or snowmobiling — saying strong winds will “continue to overload the snowpack, which contains buried weak layers,” making for very dangerous avalanche conditions.

Along with the high winds, two tornadoes touched down in parts of the Central Valley. No injuries were reported.

“From Merced down to Bakersfield, we did have a very strong jet stream right over us,” said Carlos Molina, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford. “The 50- to 70-mph winds were whipping the snow that was coming down over the mountains and creating blizzard conditions.”

Molina said the blizzard Sunday was “pretty much dying down” as the weather system moved beyond California into neighboring states. He said the next approaching storm doesn’t have the ingredients to produce blizzard conditions, but it will bring more snow and rain.