Placerville snow brings excitement for residents, preparedness for city and county
PLACERVILLE -- Snowfall in El Dorado county has people excited despite the wind and cold temperatures Thursday. Downtown Placerville was busy with locals walking their dogs and travelers passing through on their way to Tahoe.
Amber Stann, a Placerville resident, says Thursday was the first time she's experienced snow in the downtown area.
"I think it's exciting. I come from the Bay Area where this is a total anomaly," Stann said.
Meanwhile, dangerous driving conditions at lower elevations prompted Caltrans to issue a chain-control check-point just half a mile north of Placerville. However, the snowy conditions aren't stopping Shab Delgado from driving up to South Lake Tahoe.
"Just go slow, have your chains on, white-knuckle it and get there," Delgado said.
Graham Shaw and his daughter Charlotte, drove down the mountain Thursday morning after a week of skiing.
"It was a whiteout blizzard...pretty treacherous...snowing the whole time," Shaw said.
Sierra at Tahoe Ski Resort decided to close at noon Thursday due to low visibility and high winds. The whiteout conditions had PG&E crews standing at the ready. The risk of outages is top-of-mind as snow falls at lower elevations.
"You have species of trees that are not used to getting snow and when their branches get loaded up that can break off their branches and impact power lines. Even trees can fall over," PG&E spokesperson Paul Moreno said.
Placerville Union School district says schools were in session Thursday, but a snow day might be possible for Friday. The district says that will depend on how the roads are looking.