A break in the action: Some highways remain closed, thousands without power

Placer County and the surrounding area are getting a break from Mother Nature's punishing winter for a few days until the next storm system rolls in Monday. That will give Caltrans, PG&E, police and fire crews and residents a chance to clean up a complete mess of things caused by the most recent storm this week that combined snow with wind to take down more than 10,000 trees in Placer County, according to CAL FIRE/Placer County Fire Chief Brian Estes, and left tens of thousands of people without power. This week's storm included gusts from 20 to 30 mph, according to Sierra Littlefield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Sacramento. She said the next few days are expected to be "a little chilly," and wintry conditions would remain in effect "because it's breezy so all that snow on the ground will get blown around and will impact mountain travel." Raquel Borrayo, a public information officer with Caltrans District 3, put it another way: "Don't expect to get anywhere even remotely quickly." Interstate 80 and Highway 50 were open Thursday afternoon, but State Route 20 remained closed between Nevada City and I-80 because of downed trees, Borrayo said, adding State Route 49 was closed from Marysville Road in Yuba City to Sattley in Sierra County, and State Route 89 was closed around Emerald Bay because of avalanche concerns. Several county roads were also hit by downed trees. Meanwhile, 44,223 customers remained without in PG&E's Sierra Division as of late Wednesday afternoon, according to a news release. That included 9,100 customers in Placer County on Wednesday morning. December storms set a snowfall record in the Sierra. The UC Berkeley Central Sierra snow lab at Donner Pass reported a 24-hour snowfall total of 38.9 inches Monday morning, bringing the December total to 193.7 inches. That broke the 50-year-old record of 179 inches. Littlefield said a 24-hour report Wednesday recorded 5½ inches in Grass Valley and "as much as 16 inches in the last few days." Nevada City registered 6.8 inches in that same 24-hour period, and Auburn received enough snow Tuesday and Wednesday that truckers lined the shoulders and on-ramps along I-80 in town chaining up their big rigs. William Yingling said he's never had to chain up at such a low elevation in his 12 years hauling food for Raley's with Ozark Trucking. He said a buddy told him it was worse in Colfax. "It's a mess. Yeah, it's bad," Yingling said as he wrapped chains around the tires. "The road's been closed for three days, so that tells you something right there." He said the company had "17 runs trying to get over the hill to feed Nevada, and it wasn't happening. They all turned around." Yingling's load was destined for Yerington, Nevada. "Elko, we service all those areas," he said. "Those people need to eat."