A powerful and cold Pacific storm expected to bring up to 10 feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains will bring show, wind and rain to parts of Southern California as it brushes the region this weekend.
Central and Northern California will see significant rain and snowfall from the storm, which forced residents to take shelter and prompted Yosemite National Park and at least one Lake Tahoe ski resort to close. The storm that arrived Friday in Northern California is expected to close major highways and raise the potential for power outages.
A rare blizzard warning through Sunday morning covers a 300-mile stretch from north of Lake Tahoe to south of Yosemite National Park.
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In Southern California, winter storm warnings and advisories will be in effect Friday evening through early Sunday in several Southern California mountain communities.
"We're tapping into that storm to the north," said NBCLA forecaster Belen De Leon. "We're going to be on the southern fringe, and the impacts are not going to be as big for us."
Elevations above 6,500 feet in SoCal could see 6 to 12 inches of snow. Drivers will likely encounter icy roads and blowing snow through the mountain passes. Snow levels will drop as low as 4,500 feet.
A winter storm warning will be in effect in the Los Angeles County mountains. Other mountain areas, including Big Bear in the San Bernardino County mountains, the Ventura County mountains and Idyllwild in the San Jacinto Mountains, are under winter weather advisories Friday night through 6 a.m. Sunday.
"You really want to avoid traveling in the mountains, and if you must, you've got to bring the chains," De Leon said.
Rain totals will be far less than February's storms with light rain in the forecast, starting Friday night through Saturday. Lingering scattered showers are in the Sunday forecast. The additional rain raises the threat of slides in already saturated hillside areas.
Most areas will see 0.25 to 1 inch of rain. Expect 1 to 2 inches in the foothills.
The peak of the storm is expected Saturday with the most rain and strongest winds.
High temperatures in the Los Angeles area will stay in the low 60s for the weekend.
Storm to dump snow in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains
As much as 10 feet of snow is possible in the mountains around Lake Tahoe by the weekend, with 3 to 6 feet in the communities on the lake’s shores and more than a foot possible in the valleys on the Sierra’s eastern front, including Reno.
Winds are expected to gust in excess of 115 mph over Sierra ridgetops, and 70 mph at lower elevations.
“This will be a legitimate blizzard,” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said during an online briefing Thursday. “Really true blizzard conditions with multiple feet of snow and very strong winds, the potential for power outages and the fact that roads probably aren’t going to be cleared as quickly or as effectively as they normally would be even during a significant winter storm.”
Backcountry avalanche warnings were in place around Lake Tahoe, as well as areas around Yosemite National Park stretching down to Mammoth Lakes.
At Yosemite National Park, visitors were told to leave the park as soon as possible — no later than noon Friday. The park is closed at least through noon Sunday, with the possibility that could be extended, park officials said on social media. Authorities noted that more than 7 feet (2.13 meters) of snow could fall in the Badger Pass area.
Alpine Meadows, an affiliate of neighboring Palisades Tahoe, will be closed Friday. Palisades planned to open only its lowest elevation runs, and could end up closing those.
Andrew Schwartz, the lead scientist at UC-Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab, said it is possible they could break their modern-day record of about 3.5 feet of snow in a single day from back in 1989. The lab was founded atop the Sierra in 1946 in Soda Springs, California, northwest of Lake Tahoe.
The California Highway Patrol imposed travel restrictions on a long stretch of Interstate 80 between Reno and Sacramento, requiring drivers to put chains on their tires. A stretch of the highway was closed for hours at midday Thursday while crews cleared the wreckage of a semi-trailer truck that overturned near Truckee, California.
Palisades Tahoe ski resort wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the big dump expected over the weekend on top of 8 feet of snow in February should allow them to keep the slopes open through Memorial Day. But it warned blizzard conditions are likely to force temporary closures off and on through the weekend.
On the bright side, California water officials said the storm should provide a much-needed shot in the arm to the Sierra snowpack, which is vital to the state’s water supplies and sits well below normal so far this season. Extreme weather continues to affect the ski industry, as U.S. ski areas could lose around $1 billion annually in coming years due to a changing climate, a new study found.
The Sierra Nevada snowpack stood at 80% of average to date but only 70% of the typical April 1 peak, California Department of Water resources officials said Thursday.
