February 2023 CA Storm

[TJS23]

An extremely cold storm system will be hitting California over the next few days with snow levels extremely low. For only the 2nd time ever a blizzard warning has been issued for Los Angeles County. Presumably we will be seeing some historic closures. Currently as of Wednesday night 58 is closed due to snow. 101 in Northern California was closed earlier in the day briefly, and I've noticed chains required in some unique places all day like 74 leaving the Coachella Valley and 49 near Oakdale. There are CMS signs saying I-40 is closed at Flagstaff even in Victorville which is funny to me because whenever 395 is closed the CMS never says it on 14. Let's keep track here of all the interesting closures and chain requirements!

[Max Rockatansky]

According to my wife it snowed slightly on CA 180 in Fresno.  The news seems to be backing her up that it wasn't soft hail:

https://abc30.com/snowy-weather-fresno-county-winter-storm-hail-falling/12863386/

[Techknow]

You might want to double check your thread title, I don't recall a significant storm last February!

Anyway, I expect closures where there is snow in the Bay Area, at least on non-major highways. Back in 2018/2019, Mt. Hamilton saw snow and enough people were going there to see the snow that Caltrans closed CA 130 in Mt. Hamilton. Actually according to Caltrans, CA 130 is already closed to snow! I don't expect CA 17 to close, it's a major highway between San Jose, Santa Cruz and the mountain communities there.

There's a small chance that snow could fall on San Francisco, specifically on the highest peaks, Mt. Davidson and Twin Peaks (~940 ft and 922 ft elevation respectively.) There has not been snow in the city since the 70s so that's interesting to see if it will happen

[Amaury]

I don't live in California, but did we go back in time?

[TJS23]

Repost cause I messed the years up

From Last Night
An extremely cold storm system will be hitting California over the next few days with snow levels extremely low. For only the 2nd time ever a blizzard warning has been issued for Los Angeles County. Presumably we will be seeing some historic closures. Currently as of Wednesday night 58 is closed due to snow. 101 in Northern California was closed earlier in the day briefly, and I've noticed chains required in some unique places all day like 74 leaving the Coachella Valley and 49 near Oakdale. There are CMS signs saying I-40 is closed at Flagstaff even in Victorville which is funny to me because whenever 395 is closed the CMS never says it on 14. Let's keep track here of all the interesting closures and chain requirements! Forgot to mention I-15 was closed this morning at Baker and Primm due to ice at Mountain Pass, open now

Max R said: According to my wife it snowed slightly on CA 180 in Fresno.  The news seems to be backing her up that it wasn't soft hail:

https://abc30.com/snowy-weather-fresno-county-winter-storm-hail-falling/12863386/

Techknow said: Anyway, I expect closures where there is snow in the Bay Area, at least on non-major highways. Back in 2018/2019, Mt. Hamilton saw snow and enough people were going there to see the snow that Caltrans closed CA 130 in Mt. Hamilton. Actually according to Caltrans, CA 130 is already closed to snow! I don't expect CA 17 to close, it's a major highway between San Jose, Santa Cruz and the mountain communities there.

There's a small chance that snow could fall on San Francisco, specifically on the highest peaks, Mt. Davidson and Twin Peaks (~940 ft and 922 ft elevation respectively.) There has not been snow in the city since the 70s so that's interesting to see if it will happen

[hotdogPi]

Editing the thread title of the OP changes the official name of the thread.

[citrus]

I've got family in the Santa Cruz Mountains who sent me some pictures of snow at the summit of CA-17 this morning, although I don't think it closed at any point. Expecting it to be colder tonight!

[Techknow]

It seems like I-80 is closed for a large distance, from Colfax all the way to Nevada state line due to "Zero visibility" - not a condition I seen before:

[IN THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AREA & SIERRA NEVADA]

IS CLOSED EASTBOUND TO ALL TRACTOR-SEMITRAILER COMBINATIONS AT APPLEGATE (PLACER CO) - DUE TO ZERO VISIBILITY - ALL TRACTOR-SEMITRAILER COMBINATIONS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE

IS CLOSED FROM COLFAX (PLACER CO) TO THE NEVADA STATE LINE - DUE TO ZERO VISIBILITY - MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE

[TJS23]

Thanks for fixing my title mistakes

80 being close for zero visibility is actually pretty common, I see right now 101 is closed from Willits to Leggett (very rare), as well as I-5 north of Redding (not common). Some once in a lifetime closures are 175 from Hopland to Lake County (I see snow on the webcams in the towns), as well as 128 out to the coast. Also 198 from the Central Valley to 101. Edit: Forgot to mention 29 closed as well

In Southern California 58 was closed last night and 330 was closed for a time.

[kendancy66]

A couple of years ago, I witnessed it snowing at the base of the Cajon Pass.  I was travelling north on I-15 and there was very significant snow falling from the sky, although there was not very much accumulation.  Maybe an inch.  We travelled onto Las Vegas.  There was also accumulation in the Mountainous area just south of the Nevada/California state line on I-15 also.  There was a long backup at the state line, which I was baffled by because it was only Saturday.  I later learned that there was backup because the road had been closed the previous night.  When I came home on Sunday, there were also many people who stopped on the side of the road, and were playing in the snow

[citrus]

From the Caltrans Quickmap, it looks like they are potentially going to close a significant chunk of US 395, as far south as Pearsonville, not too far north of Ridgecrest.

Looks like I-5 over the Grapevine closed, as well as CA-58 through Tehachapi, but Cajon Pass on I-15 is open.
CA-17 over the summit in the Bay Area closed.

[Max Rockatansky]

CA 17 closed over the Santa Cruz Mountains for snow.  I don't recall, did that happen during the big storms during the winter of 2017?

[DTComposer]

IIRC in 2017 it was closed just around the summit. This time the closure is from Bear Creek Road to Granite Creek Road - over 11 miles.

In addition to the higher peaks in the Santa Cruz Mountains which do see a little snow once or twice a year (Loma Prieta, Mt. Umunhum, etc. - around 3,500 feet), snow has accumulated as low as ~800 ft in the hills above Los Gatos, including Blossom Hill.

[cl94]

The 395 closure is currently from Pearsonville to Walker. In other words, All of Inyo County and most of Mono. Typical closure point is north of Bishop.

SR 178 is closed through Kern Canyon, which should come as a shock to nobody.

In the Northern Sierra, only 50 is open right now and that has been closing intermittently for visibility issues and avalanche work. I-80 has been closed from Colfax to Verdi (the normal extended duration closure points) since about 1 PM yesterday, 49 and 88 have been closed since yesterday afternoon. SR 70 is still closed from December's storms and SR 32 is closed between Chico and 36, blocking another potential alternate.

Down in SoCal, everything around Big Bear Lake has had the rare R3 chain controls since Wednesday night.

No notable closures on the Nevada side (yet), though SR 431 over Mount Rose Summit was closed part of yesterday due to a crash.

[skluth]

While it frequently snows at the top of the tram (technically a cable gondola) in Palm Springs, we actually got snow at the base station this week. The base station is 2,643' ASL (about 800 meters).

[Scott5114]

Are there any reservoirs in the affected area this will help raise the level of, or is this storm just an annoyance?

[Max Rockatansky]

Are there any reservoirs in the affected area this will help raise the level of, or is this storm just an annoyance?

A lot of them were already at or near capacity.  Could lead to some downstream flooding if the spillways end up being used. 

[rschen7754]

101 in Del Norte County (on the coast) was closed due to snow. https://twitter.com/CaltransDist1/status/1628912184574222336

I drove by over the summer and wondered why they had chain areas... now I know.

[cl94]

Are there any reservoirs in the affected area this will help raise the level of, or is this storm just an annoyance?

A lot of them were already at or near capacity.  Could lead to some downstream flooding if the spillways end up being used.

In Central California, sure. Further north, it is definitely welcome insurance. For example, Lake Tahoe is still below its stated surface elevation and will need this set of storms to have a chance at hitting the maximum legal height. Oroville and Shasta are similar. This storm may have dropped enough further north to help Trinity, though I don't see that reservoir filling this year.

[Occidental Tourist]

While it frequently snows at the top of the tram (technically a cable gondola) in Palm Springs, we actually got snow at the base station this week. The base station is 2,643' ASL (about 800 meters).

Drove through the Banning Pass yesterday and I've never seen the snowpack that low on the San Jacinto.

[roadfro]

No notable closures on the Nevada side (yet), though SR 431 over Mount Rose Summit was closed part of yesterday due to a crash.

This morning, there were several closures in central Nevada due to abundant snowfall: US 6 (CA line to SR 360) and all of SR 360, SR 266 & SR 264.

These don't seem like common closures to me... All highways up around greater Reno/Tahoe were at least open with chain controls. I wonder if NDOT doesn't have the resources in central Nevada to get those highways cleared while dealing with everything else...?

[cl94]

No notable closures on the Nevada side (yet), though SR 431 over Mount Rose Summit was closed part of yesterday due to a crash.

This morning, there were several closures in central Nevada due to abundant snowfall: US 6 (CA line to SR 360) and all of SR 360, SR 266 & SR 264.

These don't seem like common closures to me... All highways up around greater Reno/Tahoe were at least open with chain controls. I wonder if NDOT doesn't have the resources in central Nevada to get those highways cleared while dealing with everything else...?

Lack of resources amplified by a staff shortage and crashes. 6 was open until crashes blocked it.

It also helps that the storm generally underperformed around Reno, moved out early, and was followed pretty quickly by temps well above freezing. It lingered down south. I'm honestly shocked at how quickly chain controls were dropped on the NV side of Tahoe compared to other recent storms; maybe District 2 has addressed some of its staff shortages? 50 had chain controls for several days after the little bit of snow that fell in early February.

[cl94]

Well, this will be fun: blizzard warning went up for the northern and eastern Sierra about an hour ago for Monday-Wednesday. 5-8 feet expected at some places near the crest, including passes. 2-3 feet in the populated areas of Truckee/Tahoe. Blue Canyon has the highest prediction (6-8 feet), so expect a nice long I-80 closure. Half a foot expected east of the Sierra in Carson/Reno/Susanville, though temps will be in the range where amounts can vary greatly.

[cl94]

Next storm is underway. SRs 20 and 49 never fully reopened north/east of Nevada City after the last storm, so those will probably stay closed until this one is over. Similarly, US 395 never reopened between Lee Vining and Bridgeport and, given how things have gone there this winter, it would not be shocking to see that remain closed until next weekend. SR 168 east of US 395 also never reopened.

I-80 was closed between Colfax and Verdi by 5:30 PM this evening, having been reopened for a day or two between storms. EB traffic is allowed east of Truckee, giving attendees of today's ski tournament at Palisades Tahoe a chance to escape to lower elevation. As I write this, SR 88 is closed at Carson Spur and US 50 EB has a hold due to multiple crashes, though WB remains open.

Down in SoCal, virtually every high-elevation state route north of I-10 remains closed on Sunday evening. 5 over Tejon Pass has been closed intermittently due to snow.

[cl94]

Lots of closures right now. In addition to the normal stuff, we have some weird ones. In the Sierra:

• US 50 closed between Pollock Pines and Meyers due to snow and avalanche risk. ETO unknown, this had been opening and closing all day but there have been many crashes. A jackknifed truck was stuck in the avalanche zone just east of Echo Summit this afternoon.
• SR 89 closed over Luther Pass
• SR 49 closed just south of Placerville
• SR 88 closed between Shake Ridge Road in Amador County and the NV line, including the 89 concurrency. Combination of heavy snow, avalanche issues on either side of Kirkwood, and stuck trucks.
• I-80 is closed between the truck chain check in Applegate and Verdi. Closure point moved back from Colfax after 80 was open overnight. Caltrans District 3 says it will likely open no earlier than Wednesday.
• US 395 closed from Bishop to Walker. Extension of the normal storm closure zone.
• SR 203 closed except within Mammoth Lakes
• SR 158 closed east of June Lake
• SRs 20/49 north/east of Nevada City never reopened, nor did SR 168 southeast of Bishop

Elsewhere in Northern CA, a ton of closures in Mendocino County, including parts of SRs 1 and 128 and the entirety of SR 253.