Sierra pounded by hurricane-force wind gusts; Blinding blizzard conditions

TRUCKEE -- A fierce storm front lingered in the Sierra Sunday morning in the wake of 24 hours of blizzard conditions that left more than 3 feet of new snow piled high on the ground and a wind gust of 165 mph at Palisades Tahoe ski resort.

While lowering in intensity, snow will continue to fall around Lake Tahoe throughout Sunday.

"The Sierra snow forecast is straight-forward with snow expected to continue throughout the day and periods of localized heavier snow bands resulting in limited visibility and boosted snow totals," forecasters from the National Weather Service's Reno office said. "While snow will start to taper off by this afternoon, the snow showers will continue for much of the Sierra through early Monday morning."

Winter Storm and avalanche warnings remain in effect Sunday.

"Additional snow accumulations of 5 to 10 inches, expect 10 to 20 inches above 7000 feet," forecasters warned. "Winds gusting as high as 60 mph along ridge lines."

For much of Saturday, the snow had a high moisture level. Known as 'Sierra cement' the thick, heavy snow triggered the avalanche warning.   

"Several feet of new snow and strong winds will result in dangerous avalanche conditions in the mountains," forecasters said. "Avalanche activity could be widespread, and some avalanches could be large and destructive."

As of Sunday morning, 48 inches had fallen at Sierra-at-Tahoe,  46 inches at Tahoe Donner, more than 40 inches at Palisades Tahoe, 33 inches at Kirkwood and 32 inches at Heavenly over the last 24 hours.

Palisades Tahoe officials said the resort would remain closed on Sunday.

"Due to low visibility and high avalanche danger, all lifts at Palisades are closed for today," officials posted on Twitter.  

Meanwhile in the Bay Area, clouds gave way to blue skies Sunday morning.  The wet and flooded roadways did create dangerous early morning driving conditions, triggering numerous accidents.

 CHP officer Andrew Barclay said it takes very little on a wet road to lose control of a vehicle.

"Very often, it takes very little for something to go wrong before a vehicle starts spinning," Barclay said. "We get people who will tell us at these crashes 'well, I wasn't speeding.' But just because you're not going over the speed limit doesn't mean you're traveling at a safe speed. When we have water on the roadway, we need to slow down. That standing water creates that layer on the road and it takes very little to start hydroplaning." 

As the storm rolled through with all its fierceness on Saturday, gusty winds toppled trees in homes in Monte Rio and heavy rain triggered flash flood watches throughout the Bay Area. Watches were issued for Sonoma, Monterey, Marin, San Mateo, Alameda and Santa Clara counties.

Meanwhile, gusty winds up to 50 mph toppled trees and limbs into several homes in rural Sonoma County.  

On Alder Dr. in Monte Rio, a tree slammed into a two-story home. Over on River Blvd., a large redwood branch fell, damaging three vehicles and an Airbnb rental.

"It was like an earthquake," said Cynthia Cook, one of the Airbnb renters who was in town from Pacifica to celebrate a friend's birthday. "A redwood branch came down and hit all three of our cars that aren't operational right now."

Later a tree fell into a house on Old Monte Rio Rd. in Guerneville. The tree brought down power lines, along with the top half of a utility pole, blocking Highway 116 for about 30 minutes.

In the Santa Cruz Mountains, where more 3 inches fell at Ben Lomond, the CHP dealt with two large "basketball-sized" boulders that block the right lane on southbound Highway 17 before the summit for several hours.

In San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, a massive redwood fell in Hellman Hollow, forcing organizers to alter the race course at the National Club Cross County Championships.

"The tree was a Monterey Cyprus, approximately 30 feet tall," a spokesperson for San Francisco Recreation & Parks told KPIX. "It went down around 10:30 a.m. No injuries and we relocated the race to the upper Polo Fields track."

Higher peaks in the Bay Area also may get a dusting of snow early Sunday.

"Snow levels are already dropping early this morning to around 3,700 feet in the North Bay and around 4,300 
feet at Point Sur," weather forecasters said. "The arriving moisture today should coincide  with these lowering levels to produce snowfall in the region's higher peaks."

"So for the Santa Lucias the most likely amounts are around 2-4 inches with 6-8 inches possible in the higher 
elevations. However a reasonable worst case scenario could produce over 8 inches locally if things line up just right moisture and temperature-wise."