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Powerful Pacific Storms Threaten Sierra Nevada with Up to 8 Feet of Snow

Powerful Pacific Storms Threaten Sierra Nevada with Up to 8 Feet of Snow
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A pair of powerful Pacific storms was forecast to bury California’s Sierra Nevada under as much as eight feet of snow through midweek, threatening whiteout conditions, highway closures and power outages even as officials welcomed a boost to the state’s meager snowpack nytimes +2. Winter storm warnings and watches stretched nearly the length of the state, with the worst impacts expected from Sunday night through Wednesday.

How Hard Will the Storms Hit California?

Forecasters expected 4–8 feet of snow along the Sierra crest, including Donner Pass on Interstate 80, with 2–5 feet at many resort elevations and 1–3 feet in lower mountain communities around 3,000–4,000 feet nytimes +1. Snow was forecast to start Sunday night, intensify Monday and peak Tuesday as a colder second system dropped snow levels toward 2,500–3,500 feet, producing rates up to 3 inches an hour in some corridors weather +1. The National Weather Service (NWS) warned of “hazardous mountain travel late Sunday through at least Wednesday,” urging people to use Saturday into early Sunday as the “best travel window” before conditions deteriorated sfchronicle +1.

The storms were also expected to pummel lower elevations. Meteorologists projected 1–3 inches of rain in parts of the Bay Area, 1–2 inches in the Sacramento Valley and 2–4 inches in the foothills, raising concerns about localized flooding and debris flows in burn scars weather +1. Winds were forecast to gust 35–55 mph in valleys and up to 70–100 mph on exposed Sierra ridges, increasing the risk of downed trees and power lines, while coastal areas braced for 15–20‑foot surf and dangerous rip currents weather +1.

Travel, Power and Emergency Response

Transportation officials warned of chain controls and potentially prolonged closures on I‑80 over Donner Summit, Echo Summit and other trans‑Sierra routes, with conditions described as “difficult to impossible” during peak snowfall rgj +1. Holiday travel to Lake Tahoe, one of the busiest weekends of the season, was expected to be severely disrupted, with ski resorts forecasting multiple feet of new snow but acknowledging that strong ridge-top winds could shut down key lifts and snarl access roads rollingout. Air travel into regional airports such as Reno-Tahoe also faced the risk of delays and cancellations during the height of the storm bloomberg.

The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) prepositioned dozens of fire engines, rescue teams, helicopters, dozers and hand crews across at-risk counties from Colusa and Lake to Nevada and Los Angeles, staging many resources from Feb. 15–16 through later in the week abc7news. Officials urged residents to prepare for outages and limited access, pointing to recent holiday storms that left more than 125,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers without power in Northern and Central California amid similar wind events travelandtourworld. Local sheriffs’ offices in mountain counties warned that what had felt like an early spring was ending abruptly, as “winter is set to show it’s not quite done yet” nytimes.

The Bigger Picture

The back‑to‑back storms arrived after a winter marked by below‑average Sierra snowpack, described in some reports as a “snow drought,” with water managers hoping the event would rebuild the state’s frozen reservoir for the dry season ahead bloomberg. Even so, emergency officials emphasized that any long-term water benefit would come with short‑term hazards: multi‑day heavy snow, strong winds, hazardous surf and episodes of flooding and debris flows across steep terrain weather +1. For Californians weighing holiday travel against safety, forecasters’ advice remained blunt as the storms moved in: delay nonessential trips into the Sierra and prepare for a week where, in many mountain areas, the weather could briefly make normal life all but impossible sfchronicle +1.