More snow expected to slam California mountains after nightmare blizzard

 After a brief respite from snow, layers will blow again late Monday night and continue through Tuesday. Although blizzard conditions are not expected to occur, 8-10 feet of snow that fell over the weekend and additional falling snow will be accompanied by winds gusts around 45 mph. Even the Sacramento Valley could see winds of 25-35 mph.

Thousands of people are still waiting for power to be restored and roads to be cleared after a weekend snowstorm ravaged the Northern California mountains. But there is no rest for the weary, as the next storm is unleashing snowfall on the already snow-capped mountains.

The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings to replace blizzard warnings, as 1 to 2 feet of snowfall is expected in the Sierra Nevada Mountains through Wednesday.

"Mountain travel will remain extremely dangerous to impossible and difficult through Tuesday night," NWS Sacramento forecasters wrote in a forecast discussion.

After a brief respite from snow, layers fly again by Tuesday. Although blizzard conditions are not expected to occur, 8-10 feet of snow that fell over the weekend and additional falling snow will be accompanied by winds gusts around 45 mph. Even the Sacramento Valley could see winds of 25-35 mph.

Parts of the Tahoe ski community are cut off due to deep snow and snow drifts one to two stories high blocking highways and interstates. Crews are slowly allowing passenger cars onto Interstate 80 after snow closed it. Another main highway was cleared, but crews stopped traffic at times to clear spinouts and perform avalanche control.

Locals call the heavy, wet snow in the Sierra Nevada "Sierra cement". And that cement took its toll on snow removal plowing. The snow took out two of the 10 plow-mounted snowblowers at the Caltrans main facility and six of a total of 20 from the California foothills to the Nevada state line.

The next system will be warmer, so snow levels will start around 2,000 feet, rising to 3,000-4,000 feet by Wednesday. This still means a few inches for the foothills, and 1-4 feet at higher elevations. Even the highest elevations of the Coast Ranges may see 1-2 feet of snow.

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Rain is expected from lower elevations to the coast. The extreme northern California coast and Oregon will see the heaviest rainfall, with more than 3 inches of rain expected soon. It's falling on saturated ground, so keep an eye out for landslides and ponding on roads.

The next storm is eyeing Southern California

The next storm to hit the Pacific Ocean will move south, bringing much-needed relief to Northern California. There will be widespread rainfall across Southern California during the Wednesday morning commute. The amount of rainfall is not very impressive – on the order of half an inch to an inch – but it does not rain so much as to hinder travel.

The Golden State dries out and warms up a bit during the second half of the work week before the next storm hits the West Coast during the upcoming weekend.