![]() The Santa Cruz County Emergency Operations Center put out a message late Friday morning asking motorists to avoid the area and not to travel except in the case of an emergency because rescues might not be possible. According to the California Highway Patrol, snow at the summit, downed trees caused by the heavy winds, and a big rig truck that jackknifed all caused the highway to be closed. The California Highway Patrol closed The Grapevine on Interstate 5 amid the first-ever blizzard warning in Southern California.Ĭloser to home, snow fell heavy enough to force the closure of Highway 17 leading to the Santa Cruz Mountains. The Sierra Nevada experienced white-out blizzard conditions, and Interstate 80 was closed from Colfax to the Nevada state border. The flurries came from an intense, cold winter storm that rolled through the region en route to covering the entire state from the Oregon border all the way to San Diego County. The Sonoma County community is only 250 feet above sea level. Caltrans, which typically clears the main public road, couldn’t get up the mountain.Įven lower, in Cloverdale, a weather spotter for the NWS recorded 2-3 inches of snow on the ground. Snow plows working to keep the area plowed became stuck in snow and ice, Rees said. He said on Thursday night the observatory “ended up with about eight inches of snow on the ground and significant drifting on the road.” Jon Rees, who’s worked at Lick Observatory atop the mountain for about three years. “It’s the largest that’s happened since I’ve been here,” said Dr. In Santa Clara County, astronomers atop 4,265-foot Mount Hamilton measured more than a foot of snow. In Contra Costa County, citizens awoke to see layers of white at least two-thirds of the way down Mount Diablo, the 3,489-foot mountain that looms above the area. It didn’t take a long climb anywhere in the Bay Area to see nature’s rare delivery - snow, and lots of it - just about everywhere. “This is a once in a lifetime - or at least a once every few years opportunity,” he said, adding that the family was “going to go up another couple hundred feet to see what it’s like at the top.” On Seaview Trail along the Grizzly Peak in the Berkeley Hills on Friday, Alameda resident Roy Cockrell, his wife, Erin Foley, and their 11-month-old daughter, Linnea, prepared for a hike.
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