Despite rain turning to snow along I-80, drivers brave rough roads to work and play in the Sierra
NYACK - On Thursday evening, the snow that was falling in Nyack quickly turned to rain. The area is around 5,000-foot elevation, and it was a wet drive up I-80 East to get there.
The rain was pounding the roads that were already blanketed with snow.
"The snow has just been piling up week after week," said Jeremiah Delaossa who works at a gas station in Nyack. "It has been foot after foot, and it has not stopped yet."
Roofs giving out is top of mind for locals with the snow, rain and wind trifecta.
"Three of the guys got up on top of the roof today and cut kind of a hole through the center and dug a channel through it," said Delaossa. "They then went ahead and pushed back 12 feet on either side of the roof."
Delaossa has been making the trek to work in Nyack from his home in Colfax. He sometimes to has had to spend the night because of constant road closures.
"Instead of getting up here in 20 minutes or so, it sometimes takes an hour or hour and a half," said Delaossa. "I just take it easy."
Despite chain controls and flash flood warnings, the snow-covered mountains were an invitation to out-of-towners like a group of friends from Palo Alto trying to hit the slopes in Lake Tahoe.
"We have one weekend off where our friends could get together so despite the weather it is still on," said Jason Qian.
The trio of friends was putting chains on their car at the rest stop in Nyack.
"Safety first, if there were major issues, we would definitely turn back like we are not totally committed to the idea," said Brian Nguyen.
Others we met were heading down the slippery hill to the valley after snowboarding on Thursday.
"I saw the weather and I was like I do not care," said Dimitri Antsimerov. "It was a quick sec when I lost control, but I caught that bad boy."
There have been multiple crashes on 1-80 throughout Thursday that brought traffic to a standstill at times. Caltrans and CHP are advising people to not travel if you do not have to. If you do, remember to take it slow.
With more rain on the way, communities in the Sierra are preparing for flooding.
