Heavy Snow — S Sierra Mtns, California

2019-02-04 to 2019-02-05 · S Sierra Mtns, California

Event narrative

Tuolumne Meadows (8600 feet) measured 38.0 inches of new snowfall between the morning of February 4 and the morning of February 5.

Wider weather episode

A very cold Pacific Storm system dropped out of the Gulf of Alaska on February 3 and slowly moved across the regions on February 4 and 5. This system brought moderate to heavy precipitation to portions of the San Joaquin Valley on February 4 and heavy snow to elevations as low as 2000 feet in the southern Sierra Nevada foothills on February 4 and 5. Between 4 and 6 feet of new snow fell above 5000 feet in the Southern Sierra Nevada. The heavy wet snow also resulted in numerous power outages affecting close to 20300 customers in the Mariposa and Yosemite Park areas. Additionally, all roads leading into Yosemite National Park (including State Routes 120, 140 and 41) were closed due to heavy snowfall. Several other roads had chain requirements above 2000 feet. Several school districts in the southern Sierra foothills closed for the day on February 5 due to roads being close to impassible as a result of heavy snowfall.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 796431. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.