Sierra Nevada records snowiest day of season following brief but powerful California storm

TRUCKEE, Calif. (AP) — A weekend spring storm that flooded the San Francisco Bay area and closed Northern California’s mountain highways also set a single-day snowfall record Sunday for the season in the Sierra Nevada.

The wet weather system had largely moved out of the state by Sunday morning, but officials warned that roads would remain slippery after about two feet of snow fell in some areas of the Sierra.

“Did anyone list the snowiest day of the 2023/2024 season as May on their winter bingo card? » asked the Central Sierra Snow Lab at the University of California, Berkeley on the social platform X.

Sunday’s 26.4 inches (67 centimeters) of snowfall beat the second snowiest day of the season, March 3, by 2.6 inches (6.6 centimeters), according to the lab.

Hazardous driving conditions forced the closure of several highways near Lake Tahoe on Saturday, including Interstate 80 above Donner Summit.

Flood advisories were issued for parts of the Bay Area, where up to an inch of rain fell while temperatures plunged into the low 40s (about 5 degrees Celsius), the service said national weather forecast. Wind gusts reaching 40 mph (64 km/h) were reported Saturday near San Francisco.

The storm brought light rain and gusty winds to Southern California.

Drier and warmer conditions were expected throughout the week.