Snow causes dicey driving across northern Nevada

Monday, Dec. 8, 2003 | 4:17 a.m.

Motorists in parts of northern Nevada from the Sierra to Elko faced icy commutes Monday following a weekend storm that dropped up to 18 inches of snow in the mountains and enough in the valleys to prompt driving controls.

Larry Osterman, a lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Reno, said Northern Nevada residents could expect cloudiness Monday and a chance of precipitation starting late Tuesday accompanied by gusty winds.

"There should be one more pretty good shot of wind and precipitation as a low pressure system moves inland about Wednesday night and will probably linger into Thursday," Osterman said.

Chains or snow tires were required Monday along most of U.S. 93 in the eastern part of the state and on U.S. over Pinto Summit to Eureka and over Antelope Summit.

Interstate-80 also had chain or snow tire requirements intermittently from the Carlin interchange east through Elko to the Starr Valley interchange. Most of the side roads in the area also required chains or snow tires.

In the Sierra, chains or snow tires were required on California 89 south of I-80, on U.S. 50 from the junction with U.S. 395 to the California state line and on Nevada 28 from U.S. 50 to Sand Harbor.

Chains or snow tires also were needed over the Mount Rose summit and on Kingsbury Grade from the Carson Valley floor to Stateline.