Avalanche — West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada, California

2012-12-24 · West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada, California

Event narrative

One fatality occurred when a male snowboarder, age 49, was caught in an avalanche at Donner Ski Ranch on Dec. 24th that occurred between 11am and noon. The man's body was found under 2-3 feet of snow at the base of the avalanche. The wind had blown snow to depths of 7 ft or more where the man was snowboarding.

Wider weather episode

A series of pacific storms tracked across Northern California Thursday through the weekend bringing periods of moderate to heavy snow in the mountains and gusty winds. Low snow levels brought snow as low as 500 ft before snow levels rose to 3000 to 4500 ft by the weekend. Significant rainfall was brought to the lower elevations. Winds gusted up to 40-55 mph in the Northern, Central, and Southern Sacramento Valley, as well as the northeast foothills and northern Sierra Mountains, on December 23rd. These winds caused an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 power outages, and also resulted in downed trees and tree branches. Power outages were located near the Redding vicinity, mountain valleys such as Quincy and Chester, near the Chico/Paradise/Oroville area, and also the Sacramento metropolitan. Two fatalities occurred with this episode: one fatality due to a fallen tree, and one fatality due to an avalanche.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 426142. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.