Icy Sierra Storm Sets Up a Wet Weekend

A cold, wet storm that flooded streets in the Bay Area and dumped heavy snow in the Sierra slipped into Southern California on Friday, producing rain and cool temperatures and prospects of unsettled weather over the long holiday weekend.

The new storm, spawned in the Gulf of Alaska, trailed another Arctic-born weather front that chilled Southern Californians with subnormal low temperatures earlier this week and then moved on without producing much moisture.

“It looks like it’s setting up a breezy, cool and wet weekend for the Southland,” said meteorologist Rick Dittmann of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. “Rain is likely from Los Angeles to San Diego on Saturday.”

After that, Dittmann said, he expects more showers on Sunday and early Monday, when he thinks clearing will begin.

Dittmann urged motorists driving to Sierra ski areas to be cautious.

“It looks like it’s going to be snowing in the mountains through the weekend,” he said.

Warnings of blizzard conditions were issued Friday for travelers heading for the mountains in Northern California. Winds gusting up to 40 m.p.h. were swirling “very heavy snow” in the Lake Tahoe area.

Snow fell as low as the 1,000-foot level in the Sierra foothills in Northern Sacramento County.

Even sled dog races scheduled this weekend in Truckee were postponed because of the blinding snow.

Sierra Pacific Power Co. said an equipment failure cut power to nearly all its customers across northern Nevada and in the eastern Sierra portion of California. An estimated 230,000 homes and businesses were without power.

Spokesman Mike Reed said crews were battling heavy drifts to reach substations, and service was being slowly restored at 4:45 p.m., one hour after the outage began.

Busy Interstate 80 was closed Friday from the Nevada state line west to Auburn, Calif., after snowplow operators said they could not keep up with the rapid accumulation of more than an inch an hour.

Most other Sierra highways were impassable, and chains or snow tires were recommended just to navigate city streets in Reno and Sparks.

Rich Peacock, spokesman for the Reno Cannon International Airport, said about half a dozen airplanes were able to land or depart from the facility early Friday before visibility became too limited for operations to continue.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning in the Owens Valley because of snow and wind.

As the storm moved through the Bay Area, the weather service reported flooded streets in urban areas. Monterey was hit with heavy rain and winds up to 65 m.p.h. Residents were warned of possible mudslides.

The state Department of Water Resources, which estimates that California now has about a 50-50 chance of having another “critical” year of subnormal rainfall, welcomed the rain and snow.

“We’re getting a lot of snow in the mountains,” spokesman Don Yoeman said. “It’s a good storm. It’s hard to get a handle on it right now . . . but it’s not going to cure our drought situation.”

In Los Angeles, only 2.92 inches of rain has fallen so far this rainy season, compared to 7.22 inches last year and the normal rainfall of 9.91 inches, according to weather service statistics.

For the third consecutive night Friday, city and county officials kept open a dozen shelters to house the homeless, who were advised to call a “cold weather hot line” at (800) 548-6047 if they need assistance.

The Civic Center high was 52 degrees Friday following an overnight low of 40. The relative humidity ranged from 42% to 50%.

In the aftermath of the frigid front that moved through Southern California earlier this week, growers counted their fruit and vegetable crop losses, with strawberries hit hard.

Industry officials estimated that a two-night freeze in Ventura County caused about $24 million in crop damage.

About 5% to 10% of the winter crop of the county’s nearly $400-million-a-year citrus, avocado and strawberry industry was ruined by temperatures that dropped into the 20s on Wednesday and Thursday nights, according to preliminary estimates by the Ventura County agricultural commissioner’s office.

Chief Deputy Agricultural Commissioner David Buettner characterized the estimated losses as moderate compared to more than $51 million in damage caused by a severe December, 1987, freeze.

In Orange County, the California Farm Bureau said strawberries are turning brown due to cold temperatures. Growers have tried to protect their crops of avocados and oranges with wind machines and water, the bureau said.

Bill Edwards, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commission, estimated that about one-third of the county’s strawberry crop has been lost to frost. He also said that growers of ornamental nursery plants may lose most of their stock.