{"id":6743,"date":"2023-03-02T04:56:24","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T10:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=6743"},"modified":"2023-03-02T04:56:29","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T10:56:29","slug":"to-the-rooftops-staggering-snowfall-in-california-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=6743","title":{"rendered":"To the rooftops: Staggering snowfall in California mountains<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emergency crews in California scrambled Wednesday to shuttle food and medicine to mountain communities stranded by back-to-back winter storms that have dumped so much snow some residents can barely see out their windows.
\nIn San Bernardino County east of Los Angeles, around-the-clock plowing is underway but it could take more than a week to reach some areas, said Dawn Rowe, chair of the county\u2019s board of supervisors. Residents are dealing with as much as 7 feet (2 meters) of snow, and sheriffs\u2019 authorities have conducted 17 rescue operations to help off-roaders and skiers. Emergency crews are trying to reach residents who need assistance.
\nGov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday proclaimed a state of emergency in San Bernardino and 12 other counties to support disaster relief by making state agencies and aid available and asking for federal help in clearing and repairing highways. The governor announced that the state was bringing in more snow plows and road crews to help clear roads and he authorized the California National Guard to mobilize for disaster response if needed.
\nRowe said no one was injured.
\n\u201cWe know that roofs are starting to collapse,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are other businesses that will likely be affected by the weight of the snow.\u201d
\nThe county has set up a hotline for residents dealing with issues like frozen pipes, roof problems and food shortages. The San Bernardino Mountains are a major tourism and recreation destination but also home to a large year-round population in small cities and communities around lakes and scattered along winding roads. About 80,000 people live either part- or full-time in the communities affected, said David Wert, a county spokesman.
\nReprieve was on the way as the mountain community continued to dig out, with much of California expecting drier weather on Thursday. A key mountain section of Interstate 5, a major north-south highway, reopened Wednesday afternoon following closures due to snowy conditions, while blizzard warnings expired in the Sierra Nevada further north.
\nAnthony Cimino, a 51-year-old retiree, said he\u2019s been snowed in for about a week in the mountain community of Running Springs. He finally managed to clear his decks, but not for long.
\n\u201cI woke up this morning and there was another two-and-a-half feet on them,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was kind of like Groundhog Day.\u201d
\nResidents of these towns are grappling with so much snow they\u2019re running out of space to put it; clearing one area adds heaps to another. Grocery shelves had run bare of some items, like bread, and were running low on eggs and milk Tuesday. Cars remained buried under snow and roads closed.
\nAt David and Kelli G\u00f3ra\u2019s home in Big Bear Lake, the snow on the roof is now touching the snow on the ground. They shoveled a small area to let their dogs go outside, but are mostly hunkered down.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been through some big storms \u2026 but this is just unreal,\u201d David G\u00f3ra said. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like it anywhere.\u201d
\nOver the past week, historic snowfall, ice and cold temperatures brought much of Portland, Oregon, to a standstill, trapping drivers on roads and highways, paralyzing government services and leading to at least two suspected hypothermia deaths.
\nWhile the West Coast grappled with wintry weather, forecasters warned a new, powerful weather system will affect most of the lower 48 states this week. Six to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimeters) of snow could eventually fall in upstate New York, Vermont and New Hampshire, meteorologist David Roth said.
\nAt the opposite end of the spectrum, record high temperatures were expected Wednesday along the Gulf Coast and into the Ohio Valley while the southern Plains to the mid-South braced for possible tornadoes Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
\nIn Southern California, two mountain highways opened and the California Highway Patrol began escorting residents back up to their homes. Anyone who ventures up from the Los Angeles area to play in the snow should take two weeks\u2019 worth of food and supplies in case they get stuck, Rowe said. More snow is expected in the coming weeks.
\nNorthwest of Lake Tahoe, on the California-Nevada border in the Sierra Nevada, an avalanche struck a three-story apartment building Tuesday evening, according to the local sheriff\u2019s office. No injuries were reported.
\nYosemite National Park postponed its planned Thursday reopening indefinitely.
\nThe heavy snow was expected to end in California on Wednesday afternoon after an additional 1 to 2 feet falls (30 to 60 centimeters), according to the weather service. In Arizona, snow began falling Wednesday morning as the storm moved eastward and was poised to dump as much as 2 feet (60 centimeters) of snow in northern Arizona by Thursday morning.
\nMore than a foot of fresh snow fell in Flagstaff by Wednesday evening, adding to what\u2019s already well above average for the winter season. Long stretches of major roadways, including Interstates 40 and 17, were closed, as were public schools in the mountain city and some government offices.
\nErin Irwin, a realtor in Flagstaff, used a shovel and snow blower to clear her driveway. This is the 12th snow day her three children \u2014 ages 11, 14, and 16 \u2014 have had since January.
\n\u201cYou would think my older kids would love it. I think they\u2019re all pretty much over it. They don\u2019t even want to play outside anymore,\u201d Irwin said. \u201cThe puppy is the only one who still loves the snow.\u201d
\nThe Sierra snowpack provides about a third of California\u2019s water supply. Tuesday\u2019s water content of the snowpack \u2014 in a state grappling with years of drought \u2014 was 186% of normal to date, according to the state Department of Water Resources\u2019 online data.
\nThe next, larger weather system was expected to spread across much of the country Thursday, and areas such as the lower Mississippi Valley and Tennessee Valley could see heavy rain, thunderstorms and some flash flooding. The high temperatures could top 100 degrees (38 Celsius) across far south Texas, and windy, dry conditions would make for a critical risk of wildfire in parts of the Southwest for the next few days, according to the weather service.
\nRecent storms across the country have delayed travel, shuttered schools and overwhelmed crews trying to dig out of the snow and repair downed power lines. More than 26,000 customers were without power Wednesday night in Michigan, which is still recovering from ice storms, and more than 100,000 customers were in the dark in California, according to PowerOutage.us.
\n___
\nFinley reported from Norfolk, Virginia, and Taxin reported from Orange County, California. Associated Press writers Terry Tang and Walter Berry in Arizona, and Trisha Ahmed in St. Paul, Minnesota, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Apnews<\/p>\n

Tags\uff1acalifornia mountains, blizzard<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Emergency crews in California scrambled Wednesday to shuttle food and medicine to mountain communities stranded by back-to-back winter storms that have dumped so much snow some residents can barely see out their windows. In San Bernardino County east of Los Angeles, around-the-clock plowing is underway but it could take more than a week to reach some areas, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[1626,1189,2693],"class_list":["post-6743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-back","tag-california","tag-rooftops"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6743"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6745,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6743\/revisions\/6745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}