Record Snowfall Grips Sierra : Avalanche Is Feared; Major Roads Blocked

A blizzard that dropped a record one-day snowfall in the central Sierra Nevada blocked mountain highways in Northern California and threatened to send an avalanche thundering down on homes in Squaw Valley Friday, officials said.

More than 42 inches of new snow buried Donner Summit, bringing the total depth at the crest to 99 inches. The Sierra community of Blue Canyon reported a snowfall of 42 inches in 14 hours, a record for a single day.

At Boreal ski resort, where Interstate 80 crosses the Sierra near Norden, an employee said five feet of snow had fallen in about 30 hours, but that snowfall stopped late Friday.

Officials, fearing an avalanche, ordered the evacuation of nearly 100 houses in Squaw Valley.

Avalanche Threat

“There’s an extreme avalanche threat,” said Placer County sheriff’s spokesman Jeff Liddle. “It looks like it could go at any time.”

Sheriff’s Lt. Nick Mileur said officials of the Squaw Valley Corp. had described the situation in the resort as “extremely dangerous.” However, sheriff’s deputies could give no exact figure of how many people were moved out of the area.

More than 52 inches of snow has fallen since Thursday, the National Weather Service said.

Snow slides on high passes blocked Interstate 80, which links San Francisco with Reno, and U.S. 50, which links Sacramento with South Lake Tahoe. Drivers of buses and cars were warned that they could not get through to ski resorts at Lake Tahoe and Squaw Valley, Caltrans dispatcher Loretta Redman said in Sacramento.

However, there were no reports of serious accidents, and Redman said that because of early warnings, there was no big backlog of traffic at the points where the roads were closed.

Highways Closed

California Highway Patrol officials in Sacramento said California 88 over Carson Pass and California 4 over Edwards Pass, from Stockton to Tahoe, also were closed.

Both Caltrans and CHP officials said the blocked highways will not be reopened to traffic at least until this morning.

All Southern Pacific Railroad service was interrupted late Friday in the Sierra. Two eastbound trains stayed in Oakland, delaying more than 1,100 passengers. The westbound Zephyr from Chicago to the Pacific Coast was held up at Sparks, Nev., because of the snow, and passengers were accommodated in Reno for the night.

In Southern California, rain showers created slippery roadways and fog clouded visibility most of the day Friday, triggering a series of traffic accidents and prompting a traveler’s advisory on the Grapevine, authorities said.

Rain may have been a factor in the freeway collision between a car and a tractor trailer in the San Fernando Valley about 9:30 p.m., in which one man in his 20s was killed, officials said.

Workers Trapped

Elsewhere, head-high snowdrifts blocked rural roads in northwestern Montana, and ranchers feared for newborn calves. Workers were temporarily trapped at Hungry Horse Dam in Montana.

Highway crews reported up to 1 1/2 feet of new snow by midday on Rogers Pass in Montana. Officials in the Gallatin National Forest advised against people using the area because of avalanche danger.

The weather service described conditions in southeastern Idaho, where a blizzard warning was posted for Friday night, as “almost chaotic.”

“There are slides, drifting snow and visibility is zero,” a spokesman for the Idaho Transportation Department said. The U.S. Forest Service issued an avalanche warning for the southeastern highlands, including the area south of Sun Valley, advising skiers and snowmobilers to stay out of the back country. The Sawtooth Recreation area north of Sun Valley received 26 inches of snow.

Interstate 15 from the Utah border to Pocatello, Ida., and Interstate 86 from Raft River, Ida., to Pocatello were closed.

Blamed in Deaths

The blizzard that swathed much of the Northwest on Thursday was blamed for two traffic deaths in Oregon, one in Washington and one in California.

Blizzard conditions made travel a hazard in Oregon, where three feet of snow fell at Santiam Pass.

The high winds driving the storms snapped power lines in many areas and closed U.S. 395 north of Reno, as lines were strewn across the road. Residents in valleys north of Reno spent Friday morning without power.

Winds blustered to near 100 m.p.h. along the ridges of Park City, Utah; about 60 m.p.h. near Casper, Wyo., Livingston, Mont., Pocatello and Salt Lake City, and 51 m.p.h. at San Francisco.

Icy cold spread across the Northeast on Friday, with temperatures dropping into the single digits and winds gusting to 35 m.p.h., creating wind chills as low as 40 degrees below zero.

Readings were near or below zero from the Missouri Valley across the Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley. Rockford, Ill., had a record minus 20. Other records for the date were 5 degrees below at Evansville, Ind.; 1 degree at Paducah, Ky., and 15 at Huntsville, Ala. The mercury fell to 33 below zero Friday morning at Tower, Minn.

Gas Cut Off

As temperatures approached zero Friday in Palmyra, Mo., gas service was cut off to 1,325 homes and businesses because of a gas line failure. Schools were closed, and workers went to houses to locate elderly persons left without power.

Meanwhile, a low-pressure system in eastern Canada was circulating cold, moist air over the Great Lakes, the weather service said. That meant more snow.