Heavy Snow — West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada, California

2024-11-19 to 2024-11-21 · West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada, California

Event narrative

Caltrans reported snow amounts of around 10 to 20 inches. The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow lab reported 19.3 inches. The National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center reported snow amounts of 4 to 24 inches north of Highway 50, with the majority falling along and north of Interstate 80. Snow started falling on the 19th and continued through the morning of the 21st. Interstate 80 was turning away big rigs and tractor trailers from Nyack to Truckee for about 3 hours due to multiple spinouts in the snow.

Wider weather episode

A strong storm system brought heavy mountain snow with mountain travel delays and chain restrictions, widespread rain with flooding impacts, and gusty winds from November 18th through November 21st. There were multiple reports of downed trees and power lines with power outages and flooding. Mountain snow resulted in chain restrictions, travel delays, and closures of major interstates.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1219787. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.