An intense blizzard continues to batter northern California and Nevada with heavy snow and 100mph winds that has buried several areas up to 10ft of snow amid dangerous whiteout conditions.
Residents were urged to take shelter and stay off roads as California authorities shut down 100 miles of Interstate 80 after widespread blowing snow was creating “extremely dangerous to impossible travel conditions,” according to the National Weather Service.
They had no estimate when the freeway would reopen from the California-Nevada border just west of Reno to near Emigrant Gap, California.
More than 49,000 customers in Nevada and California were without electricity on Saturday morning, according to PowerOutage.us.
Blizzard warnings were issued for the Sierra Nevada through Sunday morning where more than three inches of snow falling per hour was expected.
“High to extreme avalanche danger” is expected in the backcountry through Sunday evening throughout the central Sierra, including the greater Lake Tahoe area, the weather service said.
National Weather Service meteorologist William Churchill said snow totals by late Sunday would range from 5 to 12 feet, with the highest accumulations at elevations above 5,000 feet. Lower elevations were inundated with heavy rain.
