California blizzard leaves residents tunneling out with more snow on the way: Live
Communities across the region were digging out after snow reached up to roof lines in some towns
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Your support makes all the difference.Snow continued to fall across parts of California and Nevada on Tuesday after a blizzard dumped up to 10ft of snow, shutting down major highways for three days and trapping people in their homes.
Isolated, light snow showers would continue across the Sierra Nevada until Thursday morning, the National Weather Service reported, but drier and warmer conditions were expected by the end of the week.
Communities across the region were digging out after snow reached up to roof lines in some towns, and trapped people inside. More than 7,500 customers remained without power in some California counties, according to utility tracker poweroutage.us.
Localized, heavy rainfall is expected on Tuesday for northern California with downpours moving into southern California on Wednesday. Due a recent glut of atmospheric rivers hitting the state, there will be the threat of isolated flash flooding, NWS reported.
More mountain snow expected even as powerful blizzard moves out of Northern California
Weakening wind but more snow after massive blizzard in the Sierra Nevada
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Parts of the Sierra Nevada likely to get 10 feet of snow from powerful storm by weekend
Ski resorts reopen in Tahoe
The Palisades Tahoe ski resort reported on Tuesday that it received an additional two inches of snow on the mountain on Monday, bringing the five-day total to 98 inches.
The largest skiing complex in the Lake Tahoe region, and others, was forced to close this past weekend after receiving too much snow, along with powerful winds, which caused low visibility.
West coast weather forecast: The latest
One more day of heavy snow in the mountains and at higher elevations is forecast in the West on Tuesday, the National Weather Service reported.
An influx of moisture from the Pacific was targeting northern California and the southern Pacific Northwest into the northern Great Basin and Rockies.
Several more inches of snow are forecast from the southern Cascades and northern Sierra east to the Tetons in Wyoming. A cold front has also brought snow to lower elevations from southern Oregon to western Idaho.
In northern and central California, snowfall will taper off on Wednesday. However, localized, heavy rainfall is expected on Tuesday for northern California with downpours expected in southern California on Wednesday.
Due a recent glut of atmospheric rivers hitting the state, there will be the threat of isolated flash flooding, NWS reported.
California snowfall traps people inside
The Sugar Bowl Ski resort near Norden, California posted a video showing just how much snow they got this weekend - so much that they couldn’t get out of the front door.
The resort tweeted on Saturday that they had received 20-24 inches of snow. “We got some digging to do,’ they added.
More rain and high winds for southern California
Rain and mountain snow is expected to return to the Los Angeles area from late on Tuesday into early Thursday, the National Weather Service reported.
Heavy downpours and small hail was possible but otherwise the rain would be light to moderate. Snow was also possible in the mountains and along the “Grapevine”, the 40-mile stretch of highway from Castaic in Los Angeles County down to the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County.
Watch: California’s snowpack is well above average after mammoth blizzard
Downpours incoming
The National Weather Service in Los Angeles shared the potential rainfall amounts for the incoming storm system. Rain and mountain snow is expected to spread through the area on Wednesday.
The heaviest downpours will be north of Pasadena, east of Ojai and north of Santa Barbara in Santa Ynez and Big Pine Mountain.
Snowed under in Truckee
One of the places hit by the powerful multiple day winter storm in the Sierra Nevada mountains was Truckee. Kevin Dupui, who lives in the town, just northwest of Lake Tahoe, said his snow blower broke, but it doesn’t really matter because there’s nowhere to put all the snow anyway. “We just move it around,” he said on Sunday.
Dupui said residents and tourists seem to be mostly heeding warnings to stay home. “The roads haven’t been that safe, so we don’t really want people driving around,” he said.
Another Truckee resident, Jenelle Potvin, said at first some cynical locals thought “there was a little too much hype” made about the approaching storm. But then the unrelenting snow began Friday night.
“It was definitely a blizzard. And we woke up to a lot of snow yesterday and it never let up,” Potvin said Sunday. Her neighbors were snowmobiling and cross-country skiing in the streets. (Associated Press)
Avalanche threat
The Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center warned that there was “moderate” avalanche danger through Wednesday morning at 7am, local time.
“Wind slabs ranging in size and sensitivity will be possible to find in leeward catchment zones at all elevations and in atypical areas such as sheltered terrain below treeline. Localized assessments will be important to help you identify and avoid features of concern,” the avalanche center report read.
In pictures: Californians dig out from crippling blizzard
Ski resorts reopen in Tahoe
The Palisades Tahoe ski resort reported on Tuesday that it received an additional two inches of snow on the mountain on Monday, bringing the five-day total to 98 inches.
The largest skiing complex in the Lake Tahoe region was forced to close this past weekend because it received too much snow, along with powerful winds, which caused low visibility. The resort re-opened on Monday.
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