Winter wallops Sierra

RENO, Nev. - Winter continued to pummel the Sierra Nevada today with heavy snow and blustery winds, causing blizzard-like conditions in the mountains while the valleys of western Nevada coped with rain.

A series of wet, Pacific storms that began on Saturday have dumped about 8 feet of snow in some parts of the Sierra. The National Weather Service predicted another 1-2 feet could fall today before the storm clouds subside.

"It's been snowing all day without any pauses," Gloria Bourke, of Homewood, Calif., said Monday. "I snowblowed my driveway twice. Each time was about 7 inches. I'm going to do it again before I go to sleep and I am looking at another 6 to 7 inches."

Winter storm warnings remained in effect today for the northern and central Sierra, as well as the valleys of western Nevada including the Reno-Carson City corridor and portions of Mineral and Lyon counties.

The Mount Rose Highway southwest of Reno was closed early today because of an avalanche. No vehicles or people were involved, and officials said the road would remain closed while crews worked to clear the road.

Chains or snow tires were required on all other trans-Sierra highways, including Interstate 80 over Donner Summit and U.S. 50 over Echo Summit.

In the valleys of western Nevada, the storm has brought mainly rain, but the weather service said snow was likely when colder air behind the storm front changes the precipitation to snow.

Forecasters predicted 2-4 inches of snow in Reno-Carson City area, with 3-6 inches expected above 5,000 feet.

On Monday afternoon, westbound traffic on Interstate 80 was stopped for about 2 hours at the Nevada-California border because of spinouts and blizzard-like conditions.

U.S. 50 and the Mount Rose Highway were also closed on and off throughout the day as road crews triggered snow slides as a precaution against avalanches.

"It's better to have a manmade avalanche than a natural one," said Scott Magruder, spokesman for the Nevada Department of Transportation. "That way you have a little avalanche."

The storm was blamed for one death on Saturday that occurred when a group of University of California, Berkeley students set out on a hiking and sledding expedition and were trapped in an avalanche near Lake Mary.

Malcolm Russell Hart, 21, of Dover, N.H., died of a heart attack Sunday morning at Tahoe Forest Hospital in Truckee, Calif.

The three other students were treated for hypothermia and released Sunday afternoon.

An end to the storms, at least for the time being, was in sight, the weather service said.

The forecast called for decreasing snow later today, becoming partly cloudy overnight and mostly sunny but colder on Wednesday.

While the question of whether the Sierra would experience a fifth straight wet winter remains to be seen, the latest barrage of flakes has been a considerable boost to the snowpack.

"It's helping a lot," said National Weather Service hydrologist Gary Barbato. "Everything's above average."

On Feb. 1, the snowpack in the Truckee River watershed was 127 percent of average. Barbato said data from automated sensors showed the snowpack as of Monday at 134 percent.

In the Tahoe Basin, the increase was even greater, jumping from 116 percent to 147 percent of average.

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