‘Major travel impacts’ anticipated as winter storm watch is issued for northern California

As individuals journey for the vacation weekend, a lot of Northern California is beneath a winter storm watch, with communities bracing for a number of ft of snow.

The National Weather Service warned individuals touring to and from the Sierra Nevada and its well-liked ski resorts to count on “major travel impacts” and to make use of “extreme caution.”

But there may be nonetheless time for individuals to get to their locations for Presidents Day weekend.

Dakari Anderson, a National Weather Service meteorologist within the Sacramento workplace, informed The Associated Press that Saturday via Sunday morning goes to be the “best travel window” forward of the incoming chilly climate system.

While there was some snow earlier within the week, situations remained “quiet” on Saturday, Anderson mentioned. But issues are anticipated to choose up Sunday afternoon — with communities which might be located at elevations of three,000 to 4,000 ft (914 to 1,219 meters) anticipating to be blanketed with between 1 and a pair of ft (30 and 60 centimeters) of snow.

“Our highest (snow) accumulations are going to be in those kind of more hard to reach places, but we’re still going to see some of those heavier amounts in communities that are populated,” Anderson mentioned.

Communities in greater elevations may see far more snow — probably 6 to eight ft (1.8 to 2.4 meters). Among them, Anderson mentioned, could also be Blue Canyon, a sparsely populated unincorporated group that sits at 4,695 ft (1,431 meters) of elevation and is about 51 miles (82 kilometers) west of Lake Tahoe.

The winter occasion is predicted to span a number of days and will additionally affect parts of Western Nevada and Southern Oregon.

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Cline reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

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