RENO, Nev. (AP) — At least nine Lake Tahoe ski resorts closed and visitors to Yosemite National Park were told to urgently leave Friday as California’s most powerful storm of the season bore down on the Sierra Nevada, where residents were urged to take shelter as they prepared for up to 10 feet of snow in some areas.
The storm began barreling into the region on Thursday, with the biggest effects expected to close major highways and trigger power outages Friday afternoon into Saturday. A blizzard warning through Sunday morning covers a 300-mile stretch from north of Lake Tahoe to south of Yosemite National Park.
“Your safe travel window is over in the Sierra,” the National Weather Service in Reno posted Thursday morning on social media. “Best to hunker down where you are.”
Meteorologists predict 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.
At least nine Lake Tahoe ski resorts announced on their websites or social media that they were remaining closed Friday due to the conditions. A handful of other resorts either opened or planned to but warned of limitations and delays.
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 (1 meter) 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.
“Last night, conditions deteriorated over Donner Summit causing a traffic mess,” the CHP’s Truckee office said in a social media post early Friday.
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.
Palisades Tahoe ski resort wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the big dump expected over the weekend on top of 8 feet (2.4 meters) of snow in February should allow them to keep the slopes open through Memorial Day.
