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KIRKWOOD — March roared in with an epic snowstorm over the Sierra on Thursday, a blizzard that packed hurricane-force wind gusts and white-out conditions, shutting down ski resorts and Interstate 80.
“Extremely deep powder!” snowboarder Tyler Zamora of Santa Cruz said in celebration, glazed in white snow after a thrilling ride
After a near-record dry February, the powerful storm that barreled into the Golden State also delivered a soaking — and harried commutes — to the Bay Area, as San Francisco saw more precipitation in the first nine hours of March than all of last month.
But despite the drenching, forecasters warned that the Thursday’s blizzard, expected to last through Saturday, is far from what California needs for a March Miracle that could deflect a drought.
Long-awaited, California’s biggest storm of the season arrived as polite snow flurries but soon turned fierce enough to blur the world, snarling highways, shutting schools and sending skiers scurrying for shelter.
“Mother Nature is putting on quite a show. This is a real blizzard,” said Kevin “Coop” Cooper, Kirkwood spokesman. “We just need four to six more of these.”
Up to five feet of snow is expected in the Tahoe area and seven feet could fall on mountain passes by the storm’s end on Saturday.
Poor visibility forced the closure of a major stretch of Interstate 80, and chain controls remained the order of the day through much of the Sierra. Waves and whitecaps scurried across a slate gray Lake Tahoe. Wind gusts reached 134 mph at the summit of Squaw Peak, at the Squaw Valley Resort. Schools and colleges closed throughout the Lake Tahoe basin.
The Bay Area received its first good soaking in nearly two months Thursday.
In the North Bay and Santa Cruz Mountains, some locations tallied more than 2 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service in Monterey. Kentfield in Marin County was among the wettest spots, receiving 3.22 inches of rain over the 24-hour period ending at 4 p.m. Thursday.
As of 4:30 p.m., other 24-hour rainfall totals included 1.45 inches in Concord, 1.31 inches in Santa Cruz, .89 inches in San Francisco, .74 inches in Oakland, .64 inches in Livermore and .49 inches in San Jose.
The storm disrupted the Bay Area’s morning commute. Wet roadways resulted in dozens of reported collisions on Bay Area highways, according to the California Highway Patrol. There were also reports of freeway flooding in the usual problem spots.
In the Sierra foothills, I-80 closed at Colfax, wreaking havoc. Chain controls were as low as 3,600 feet.
Unlike November’s rains, this one’s not an “atmospheric river,” one of the long, narrow regions in the atmosphere – like rivers in the sky – that transport water vapor from the tropics, day after day.
Instead, “much of the rain came concentrated in a fairly short, heavy burst, rather than being spread out over time,” said UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain.
What made Thursday’s storm so impressive and unusual, he said, is the hefty snowfall expected at lower elevations — in the 1,500- to 2,500-foot range — in the lower Sierra Nevada foothills and even Northern California’s coastal range. That’s because a cumulus cloud of cold air settled over the Pacific.
In the Sierra, residents awoke to the scraping of snow plows and sharp blasts of avalanche-triggering hand chargers and Howitzers at ski areas, including Kirkwood Mountain Resort, to prepare the slopes for skiers anxious for epic powder.
At Kirkwood’s equipment rental office, supervisor Nick Piliae recommended “face masks, goggles, glove liners and a sweater under a waterproof jacket.”
“Powder skis, powder boards,” he said. “Big nose, short tail.”
“It is amazing. It is so amazing. Really thick and fun and fluffy,” said Isabel Leonard of San Francisco. “The falls don’t hurt.”
Kirkwood ski instructor Steve Bush looked at the skies and said, “Our patience is paying off. This is a serious storm.”
But by mid-day, the mountain was considered unsafe and completely closed. Northstar was closed, too. Only several lifts remained running at Squaw Valley.
Idled, some skiers at Kirkwood Mountain Club went to the fitness center and hopped on the spin bike and treadmill. Others took to the spa, soaking in the hot tub and steam room.
At the exclusive The Living Room restaurant at the Ritz Carlton Hotel at Northstar, dinners were fully booked — for both 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. seatings.
In the Tahoe Basin, the storm will bump up the season’s snowpack a hefty 15 to 20 percent — although that boost only gets the region to about half of what’s normal for the season, said Jeff Anderson, hydrologist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Will it be the “Miracle March” of 1991, when the Sierra snowpack started the month at a dismal 20 percent of normal but ended at 80 percent? That would take a series of four to six storms, all stacked up behind each other.
All of California is facing massive precipitation deficits, and forecasters warn that the historic odds of even getting close to normal rainfall totals are near zero — even if both March and April are wetter than usual.
February concluded as one of the driest on record in the Bay Area. San Francisco endured the 16th driest February in 169 years of records with .42 inches of rain, half of which fell in the final few hours of the month Wednesday night, according to Jan Null of Golden Gate Weather Service.
San Jose ended February with .40 inches of rain, the 13th driest February in 125 years of records.
Before Thursday, the only day so far this year with more than 1 inch of rain was Jan. 8, when San Francisco recorded 3.15 inches, Oakland 2.56 and San Jose 1.40.
For the water year, which began Oct. 1, rainfall totals across Northern California generally range from 40 to 60 percent of normal, including Oakland (57 percent), San Francisco (54 percent) and San Jose (49 percent).
Last winter, there were seven to ten storms that were as strong as this one.
As the storm raged in the Sierra on Thursday night, Kirkwood’s ski patrol and lift mechanics took the lifts to two peaks, then prepared to sleep in huts at the top.
On Friday morning, in darkness at 4:30 or 5 a.m., they’ll awake, measure the snow and call down with a report on conditions.
Lift mechanics will start digging out, by hand, the buried upper terminals and ‘’bullwheels” that pull the chairs up the mountains. They also will test to make sure equipment is not frozen.
Then they’ll send up teams with avalanche explosives to release dangerous snow. Ski patrollers will ski each route, then meet at the bottom to compare notes.
Only then will it be open to the public, Cooper said. “It’s not just turning on a ride, like Disneyland.”
