Six skiers found but 10 still missing after avalanche in California | California

Six skiers have been found after a group of 16 people went missing this morning as heavy snow blanketed California, prompting avalanche warnings in the Sierra Nevada mountains, closing coastal roads and causing flooding in Los Angeles.

The remaining 10 skiers are still missing, according to the Nevada County, California, Sheriff’s Office. The group was in the Castle Peak area, where an avalanche was reported around 11:30 a.m. According to the sheriff’s office, the group consisted of four ski guides and 12 clients.

“People go out and use the backcountry all the time,” Capt. Russell Greene of the sheriff’s office told KCRA in an interview, saying his office was notified of the missing skiers by the tour company after the avalanche. “Honestly, we don’t recommend it, but I wouldn’t say it’s rare, or that it was a wise choice. »

In a statement posted on social media, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said it “has been informed of this developing incident” and that the state is “coordinating an all-hands search and rescue effort.”

The Central Sierra Snow Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, near Donner Pass, reported 28 inches of snow Tuesday, with an additional 3 feet expected in the next two days. I-80 is closed from Colfax to the Nevada state line due to snow.

The Sierra Avalanche Center has issued an avalanche warning for the central Sierra Nevada until 4 a.m. Wednesday. In a press release, it is indicated: “A widespread natural avalanche cycle is expected over the next 24 hours.”

Two Pacific storms are expected to bring more than 3 feet of snow to the Sierra Nevada and heavy rain to the lowest parts of the state, including Los Angeles and San Diego, where flooding could occur following recent burn scars.

The National Weather Service is forecasting “very heavy, multi-day snowfall accumulations of more than a foot” across the southern Cascades into southern California and east into the Rockies. The heaviest snowfall is expected in the Sierras.

Heavy snowfall of up to 3 to 5 feet was forecast for locations above 6,000 feet in elevation, with snowfall of up to 7 feet expected at higher elevations, according to the winter storm warning from the National Weather Service Hanford office for areas near Yosemite National Park. The warning was in effect until 10 p.m. local time on Thursday.

Some ski resorts in the Lake Tahoe area had already announced closures, while others warned skiers to check road conditions before heading up the mountain. All Palisades and Alpine lifts closed around noon Tuesday “due to conditions, visibility and wind.”

Yosemite National Park remains open, with tire chain requirements and road closure warnings, although visitors hoping to see February’s Firefall at Horsetail Fall may be disappointed. The fleeting moment when the waterfall glows gold under the rays of the setting sun will likely be obscured by weather conditions.

“It is very unlikely that Horsetail will be lit at sunset due to cloudy conditions over the next few days and possibly throughout the weekend,” the park said in a social media post. “Due to weather conditions, the pedestrian route to the viewing area has been removed.”

Stanford University closed its doors for approximately two hours following a power outage. In a statement, the university said: “One of the main PG&E transmission lines supplying power to the campus was reportedly impacted, causing the outage. » According to the university’s website, the outage began around 9:16 a.m. local time, and the campus reopened at 11:39 a.m.

Further south, sections of Highway 1 remained closed after Caltrans closed a 45-mile stretch of the Coastal Highway Monday following a landslide. The road is still closed in two sections: from 2.3 miles north of Lucia to 16.3 miles south of Big Sur, and from 1.8 miles north of the junction of Highway 135 and Soloman Road to 7.4 miles south of Guadalupe at Black Road.

Caltrans had reopened a section of the highway a few weeks earlier, after three years of repairs caused by a landslide caused by heavy rains.

In Southern California, the National Weather Service Los Angeles/Oxnard office said heavy snow was “possible” along the I-5 and I-14 corridors, with wind gusts “up to 60 to 70 mph.”

Flood watches were in effect in Los Angeles, where the county had issued an evacuation warning in areas affected by the Palisades, Eaton and other fires due to potential flooding in burn scars.

By Monday, floodwaters had already engulfed parts of Los Angeles, wreaking havoc even for non-humans, as local network NBC noted that a local food delivery robot got stuck in a flood in West Hollywood.

A distinct weather pattern in the Central Plains resulted in high wind warnings across large parts of Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas. Tuesday morning, “blackout” conditions caused crashes involving more than 30 vehicles, killing four people on a Colorado highway, where gusts of dirt reduced visibility. Twenty-nine people were taken to hospitals with minor to serious injuries, Colorado State Patrol Maj. Brian Lyons told the Associated Press.

At a National Weather Service briefing in Pueblo, officials said gusts could reach up to 85 miles per hour in the mountains and up to 65 miles per hour at lower elevations, creating critical wildfire conditions.