Sierra Gets More Than 3 Feet Of Fresh Snow
TRUCKEE (AP) — Skiers and snowboarders in the Sierra woke up on Saturday to fresh snow after the region experienced a powerful storm.
Forecasters say even mountain peaks in the San Francisco Bay area could see some of the white stuff as temperatures drop this weekend.
Boreal Mountain Resort atop Donner Summit in Truckee reported between 36 and 40 inches of snow during the 24-hour period that ended at 6 a.m. Saturday.
Sierra at Tahoe and other resorts reported about the same, said Karl Swanberg, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.
"We're just really, really thrilled," said Rachael Woods, a spokeswoman for Homewood Mountain resort on Lake Tahoe. The resort received about 30 inches of snow at mid-mountain, or about 4,000 feet, between Friday and Saturday.
With sporadic snowfall this year, it has previously relied on man-made snow.
"This really generates some excitement for the second half of our season," she said.
The fresh precipitation in the Sierra comes on top of 3 to 4 feet of snow that fell earlier in the week.
Forecasters say snow will continue to fall intermittently through the weekend in the northern Sierra although accumulations are expected to be minor, with just 2 to 4 additional inches expected on Saturday.
"Instead of having that steady, heavy type of snow, we'll see more of a snow-showery pattern continue through at least Sunday," Swanberg said.
A winter storm warning, however, remained in effect until 10 p.m. Saturday for the central Sierra, with snow accumulations of 10 to 14 inches expected.
Elsewhere in Northern and Central California, intermittent rain is a possibility through next week, following a week of showers that dumped more than 12 inches in some mountain spots.
"The worst is behind us in terms of sustained rainfall precipitation," said Tom Evans, another forecaster with the National Weather Service.
Temperatures are expected to drop on Saturday and over the weekend, which could bring a dusting of snow to the peaks of Mount Diablo, Mount Tamalpais and Mount Hamilton in the San Francisco Bay area.
Meanwhile, in Southern California, rain was expected to last through the weekend and could affect Sunday's Los Angeles Marathon for the second straight year after heavy rain and snow doused the region on Saturday. Minor street flooding was reported in the San Fernando Valley and Interstate 5 at the Grapevine remained open, although mud streamed into some of the lanes.
The rain and snow are good news for California, which has seen little precipitation this year. The snowpack was just 36 percent of normal on Friday morning even after this week's storms.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
