Snowfall slows mountain traffic, brings out chain restrictions

Tom Gardner

Wednesday, Feb. 17, 1999 | 9:09 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Fair skies returned to the Sierra today, but forecasters warned motorists that both the sunshine and the opportunity to cross the mountains without chaining up would be short-lived.

Another in a series of winter storms was expected to move in overnight with the possibility of heavy snow on Thursday.

Chains still were required early today on both Interstate-80 and U.S. 50 on the heels of a persistent daylong snowfall that dropped up to two feet of snow on top of an already above-average winter accumulation.

Kirkwood Ski Area reported 24 inches at the higher elevations and a foot at the bottom of the slopes.

Alpine Meadows came in with 23 inches, Diamond Peak with a foot and Mount Rose with 10 inches.

Tuesday's storm was generally mild, with a mixture of rain and snow at Lake Tahoe that turned to snow a few feet above that.

Enough snow packed the highways to bring out day-long chain or snow tire requirements, giving holiday skiers time to regret staying an extra day as they chained up.

"I plan on eight hours on the road," said Nelson Yoro as he wrapped up his three-day holiday with 30 other San Francisco Bay area tourists by stopping at a service station in Meyers, Calif., for gasoline and refreshments.

Despite snowfall that limited visibility to a quarter of a mile in Blue Canyon along I-80, the California Highway Patrol reported few accidents because traffic was restricted to a crawl.

Water watchers said the latest storm assured a record fifth straight above-average winter precipitation in the Tahoe-Truckee area and a nearly average accumulation in the Carson and Walker river runoffs to the south.

And it's far from over.

After a brief respite on Friday, forecasters said more unsettled weather was likely through the weekend accompanied by gusty winds. Rain in the valleys on Saturday was expected to turn to snow on Sunday as temperatures cool.