The big dump | Digging out from 11 feet of snow in Mammoth Lakes
From the Bay Area to Los Angeles, it was a day to gaze upon snowcapped peaks and acknowledge that, yes, California does have a winter, while sharing a photo or two on social media.
But don’t expect the alpine glory — caused by a series of cold storms that dropped snow levels dramatically — to disappear immediately.
Wet weather will kick back up again Friday for large swaths of the state, which could bring hazardous conditions for drivers. The National Weather Service said two new low-pressure systems would be coming from the Arctic and slamming the Sierra Nevada with low temperatures and snow this weekend.
The systems will be coming in from the north over western Canada and won’t be as strong as the storms earlier this week, but they will still be cold. Since the storms started on Feb. 2, Mammoth Mountain has seen 132 inches of snow, Kirkwood 92 inches and Northstar 78 inches.
The system hitting the state Friday into Saturday is expected to dump between 8 to 12 inches of snow on Donner Pass, while the Sunday system will bring 18 to 24 inches of snow, said Cory Mueller, a meteorologist with the weather service in Sacramento.
Mammoth and June Lake snow resorts reopened Wednesday and are now contending with as much as 11 feet of new snow and temperatures hovering around zero.
Ski lifts at Mammoth are back up and running, but skiers will face biting cold weather. The temperature early Thursday was 6 heading toward an expected high of 24.
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