TRUCKEE, Calif. (AP) 鈥 A major highway was closed and ski resorts were shut down Sunday as the effects of a powerful blizzard continued to cause problems across the Sierra Nevada, and forecasters warned that more heavy snow was on the way for Northern California.
Sections of Interstate 80 to the west and north of Lake Tahoe were made impassable by blowing snow piling up in lanes, with no estimate for reopening, the California Highway Patrol said.
The CHP office in South Lake Tahoe warned motorists that tire chains for improved traction are required on routes through the mountains, where more than 7 feet (2.1 meters) of snow fell over the weekend. The online warning Sunday was accompanied by a photo of a big rig without chains stuck in whiteout conditions on a local road.
鈥淭rying to bypass chain control, no no no!!" the agency said on X, formerly Twitter. 鈥淒angerous and not smart.鈥
A blizzard warning was in effect until midnight for some areas above 6,500 feet (1,980 meters), while lower elevations were under a winter storm warning with another 2 feet (60 centimeters) of snow possible, the 好色tv Weather Service office in Sacramento said. 鈥淢ountain travel is HIGHLY discouraged!鈥 the office warned.
The multiday storm caused traffic backups and closures on I-80 and many other roadways, shut down ski resorts and left thousands of homes and businesses without power.
By Sunday evening, Pacific Gas & Electric had restored electricity to all but about 4,800 Northern California customers, while NV Energy had reduced its outages to roughly 1,000 homes and businesses across the state line in Nevada.
Palisades Tahoe, the largest resort on the north end of the lake and site of the 1960 Winter Olympics, was among several ski mountains that closed most or all chairlifts for a second straight day Sunday because of snow, wind and low visibility. Palisades reported a three-day snow total of 6 feet (1.8 meters), with more falling.
鈥淲e will be digging out for the foreseeable future,鈥 officials said on the resort鈥檚 blog.
Kevin Dupui, who lives in Truckee, 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. 鈥淲e just move it around,鈥 he said Sunday.
Dupui said residents and tourists seem to be mostly heeding warnings to stay home. 鈥淭he roads haven鈥檛 been that safe, so we don鈥檛 really want people driving around,鈥 he said.
Another Truckee resident, Jenelle Potvin, said at first some cynical locals thought 鈥渢here was a little too much hype鈥 made about the approaching storm. But then the unrelenting snow began Friday night.
鈥淚t was definitely a blizzard. And we woke up to a lot of snow yesterday and it never let up,鈥 Potvin said Sunday. Her neighbors were snowmobiling and cross-country skiing in the streets. "But, yeah, we went from 0 to 100 pretty fast.鈥
In the eastern Sierra, the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area was closed Sunday as winds of up to 70 mph (113 kph) made it too difficult for ski patrol to complete avalanche mitigation, the resort said. More than 3 feet (nearly 1 meter) of snow fell over three days, and more was on the way.
Weather service meteorologist William Churchill on Saturday called the storm an 鈥渆xtreme blizzard鈥 for the Sierra Nevada but said he didn鈥檛 expect records to be broken.
The storm began barreling into the region Thursday. A widespread blizzard warning through Sunday morning covered a 300-mile (480-kilometer) stretch of the mountains. A second, weaker storm was forecast to bring additional rain and snow between Monday and Wednesday, forecasters said.
California authorities on Friday shut down 100 miles (160 kilometers) of I-80, the main route between Reno and Sacramento, because of 鈥渟pin outs, high winds, and low visibility.鈥 There was no estimate when the freeway would reopen from the California-Nevada border west of Reno to near Emigrant Gap, California.
Rudy Islas spent about 40 minutes shoveling his car out before heading to work at a coffee shop in Truckee on Sunday morning. Neither he nor his customers were fazed by the snow, he said.
鈥淭o be honest, if you鈥檙e a local, it鈥檚 not a big deal,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 think a lot of people are used to the snow and they prepare for it.鈥
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Weber reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press reporters Ken Ritter in Las Vegas; Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada; Janie Har in San Francisco; Julie Walker in New York; and Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed.
