How much snow?

Here's how much snow fell in California's Sierra

By Amy Graff

Snow piled up in California's Sierra Nevada as a three-day storm battered the mountain range, closing roads and ski resorts.

A snow slide crashed onto Highway 50 on Sunday, trapping cars, but by Monday morning, the route was open with chain control. Interstate 80 opened to passenger vehicles around 9 a.m. Monday; Caltrans said it hoped to reopen the highway to semi-trucks later today. Several other roads across the Sierra shut down amid heavy snow over the weekend and remained closed. Caltrans shared an image of the Eastern Sierra's Highway 395 passing through Mono County, and there's so much snow that the road is barely visible. 

In the area of Yosemite National Park, State Route 120 into the park, Badger Pass Road and Hetch Hetchy Road were all closed Monday morning. The roads are expected to reopen at noon today, conditions permitting, the agency said.

The storm was the biggest snow-producer so far this season, and the snowfall totals the National Weather Service issued on Sunday are staggering.

Across a three-day period, Sugar Bowl on Donner Pass recorded 87 inches, Soda Springs 84 inches, Kingvale 73 inches, Yuba Pass 72 inches, Palisades Tahoe 62 inches, Bear Valley 57 inches, Kirkwood 48 inches, Tuolumne Meadows 45 inches, Happy Isles in Yosemite National Park 25 inches and Blue Canyon on I-80 23 inches, the weather service said. 

The snowfall eased Monday morning, with only a few lingering flurries. While another system is expected to impact the northern Sierra, including the Tahoe Basin, this week, the system is not forecast to be nearly as severe as the weekend one.

"We do have another system that could bring periods of moderate snow Monday afternoon," said Idamis Shoemaker, a forecaster with the weather service's Sacramento office. "Most of the snow will fall this the afternoon and into tomorrow."

Locations above 4,000 feet in the western Sierra from I-80 northward are forecast to pick up 6 to 12 inches of additional snowfall Monday afternoon through Thursday, the weather service said. Snow remains in the forecast Wednesday and Thursday, but conditions are expected to dry out at some point Thursday. Friday is predicted to be clear and sunny. 

"There's potentially another system on Saturday. Something is going to move in this weekend," said Justin Collins, a forecaster with the weather service's Reno office. "We just don't know exactly what yet."