California’s powerful blizzard to wane, but more snow on way

UNITED STATES: The powerful blizzard that has been pounding the Sierra Nevada mountains since Friday was expected to wane Sunday, but residents shouldn’t put away their snow shovels just yet as more heavy snow is on the way.

The National Weather Service said conditions would improve as winds weakened on Sunday, but precipitation would quickly return, with heavy snow in some areas and rainfall in others.

Workers clear train tracks as snow falls north of Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada mountains during a powerful winter storm on 1 March in Truckee, California.

“We still have some showers ongoing especially up in the Sierra, and that will kind of continue throughout this afternoon, and then finally taper off overnight tonight,” said Justin Collins, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno. “That’s kind of the wrap up of the storm, if you will, and we’re going to have a few more waves come through early this week.” More than 10ft of snow was expected at higher elevations, National Weather Service meteorologist William Churchill said on Sunday, creating a “life-threatening concern” for residents near Lake Tahoe and blocking travel on the key east-west freeway.

A second, weaker storm was forecast to bring an additional 1 to 2ft of snow in the region between Monday and Wednesday next week, according to the National Weather Service office in Sacramento.--Agencies

That wasn’t much of a break after a multi-day storm that one meteorologist called “as bad as it gets” closed a key east-west freeway in northern California, shut down ski resorts and left thousands of homes and businesses without power.

By Sunday morning, Pacific Gas & Electric had restored power to all but about 7,000 California customers, while NV Energy had reduced its number to roughly 1,000 homes and businesses.