Persistent blizzard in Lake Tahoe forces visitors from the Bay Area into waiting game

Bay Area residents hoping to dig out of a Sierra blizzard and return home to jobs and school instead faced heavy, wind-whipped snow that kept shut I-80 through the mountains on Sunday. Caltrans said a break in the weather might provide a fresh opportunity to clear and open the highway on Monday.

“We did think we were going home today but we’re stuck here,” said Lexi Esquivel, 15, a sophomore at Dublin High School who was in Truckee with her family for a snowboarding and winter-recreation getaway. “I like the snow, so I’m not really mad, but I do kind of want to go home — I don’t like missing school.”

Her father, Michael Esquivel, a real estate agent, said the family knew the snowstorm could persist, and brought their laptops for jobs and schoolwork. “As long as the power doesn’t go down, we’ll be fine,” he said Sunday.

The blizzard warning had originally been set to expire at Sunday morning, but the National Weather Service extended it to 4 a.m. Monday as mountain communities in the Sierra Nevada attempted to dig out from the biggest snowstorm of the year even as it kept going — and going.

Conditions around Lake Tahoe on Sunday were at times more severe than on Saturday, with brief periods of sunshine giving way to thick snowfall, and winds sweeping built-up snow into roiling clouds and white-out conditions that made driving a life-threatening proposition.

“Even where roads aren’t closed, traffic can still be hazardous with all this snow and wind,” said Sarah Purdue, a meteorologist with NWS Sacramento.

An alternate route home for Bay Area residents who might brave the drive around the east side of Lake Tahoe to US Highway 50 at South Lake Tahoe became a dicey option after a snow slide early Sunday morning buried the highway at Meyers Road under a few feet of snow, trapping several vehicles. Although the route was quickly cleared, the slide underscored officials’ travel warnings and the risk of additional closures.

Caltrans said at 4 p.m. Sunday that if a predicted break in the weather Monday materialized, I-80 could be reopened at some point.

City of South Lake Tahoe officials warned Sunday afternoon that anyone trying to drive westward from the lake on US 50 should expect “significant” delays from backed-up traffic.

On I-80, where eastbound motorists were being turned back 50 miles past Sacramento and westbound lanes closed at the Nevada state line, Caltrans crews were struggling to prepare for a reopening. “Severe conditions” caused overworked snow-blowing trucks to break down, the agency said.

“We have been down to 2 of 10 blowers at our central hub in Kingvale and 6 out of 20 from Auburn to the Nevada state line,” Caltrans tweeted Sunday afternoon, adding that it could provide no estimate for when the route would open again.

An additional 1 to 2 feet of snow were expected to fall on the western slopes of the Sierra above 4,000 feet until midnight Sunday, with fierce gusts of wind, especially across the peaks.

Up at 6,700 feet of elevation near the Tahoe Donner ski resort on Sunday, Dimitris Sweeney and his brother-in-law Cole Heer, both of San Jose, were toiling with shovels to free their SUV from 5 feet of snow so they could get some runs in at Northstar ski resort, which had but three runs open by noon and six by later in the day. For Sweeney and Heer, the lingering Lake Tahoe blizzard made timing for their returns home uncertain.

“Fingers crossed I’ll be able to leave Wednesday,” said Sweeney, 25, a web designer scheduled to return to work Thursday.