Our top story,
a winter storm taking hold.
Take a look at this.
Thanks to Katrina and El Dorado
Hills for this video showing
Groppel falling on her back porch
just before 3:00 this afternoon.
And in the Sierra today it was
near whiteout conditions at times.
This is how things looked on
I-80 at Donner this afternoon.
And so we do have team coverage tonight.
ABC's Alicia Machado has a look at the
dangerous traffic conditions in the Sierra
but we start tonight
with chief meteorologist.
Monica Woods, who's tracking
the latest conditions. Right now
we're continuing to watch how low
that snow will go, as you can see,
look at this big band of rain getting
ready to move through the valley,
coming out of the coastal hills
and pressing its way into the
valley locations right now,
coming down hard along I-80
near Vacaville Fairfield,
up towards Winters along 505
and esparto woodland Davis.
We're next in line to get
some of that heavy rain,
and that will be pressing
in towards Yuba City,
Marysville and eventually into
the foothills and the Sierra.
There right now we're getting
some break from some of the
widespread heavy snow that we've
been experiencing throughout today
as far as those winds picking
up right now to about 25 mph.
And this is all a part of the
wind advisory that will be in
play until tomorrow afternoon.
Wind gusts up to about 50 mph.
Also in the high country winter
weather advisory through Saturday
morning and for the lower elevations.
It is a winter storm warning snow
below 1000 feet and that will
continue Friday and for some
of us into Saturday as well.
Temperatures right now.
A little bit too warm to snow
currently in the 40s in the Valley 32
for Placerville were 29 degrees for
Nevada City and those temperatures
have been holding pretty steady here.
You could see the snow pockets that
are trying to develop overnight
tonight through early tomorrow at
some of the lower elevations and
periods of some heavy rain coming
into the valley through the morning
commute and into the afternoon as well.
Risk of thunderstorms and more low snow.
All of that coming up guys.
Alright Monica, thank you.
And a live look at road conditions if
we can tonight take a look at this.
Really dark out there,
but we can still kind of see
there in that shot where heavy
snow and strong winds may travel
conditions dangerous at times.
Our Alicia Machado was in
the Sierra tonight to get a
closer look at conditions.
She has more tonight in Colfax on how
this storm is impacting travel plans.
Drivers who are planning on
traveling up to the snow over the
next few days should expect Rd.
closures or delays as winter
storm conditions continue.
Snow falling over I-80 near Colfax
Thursday night making it tough
for drivers to see on the roads.
Some travelers from Sacramento and
the Bay Area deciding to head back
West after hours of waiting Rd.
closures, putting a damper on
weekend plans in the Sierra.
Gonna be able to do it.
Avery Hancock and her father
coming up from San Jose to
enjoy a weekend of winter fun.
Just skiing, maybe finding some
sledding, just trying to do
whatever we can in the snow.
But stuck at the Colfax exit Thursday
evening waiting for I-80 to reopen.
And this isn't the first time
they've dealt with the closure.
Lots of the last trips haven't been good.
We've been keeping to go back.
Our luck isn't any better right now.
Was closed in both directions Thursday
afternoon and into the evening due
to Spinouts and weather conditions.
Some drivers headed home,
but others decided to wait it out,
like the Cooper family from Sacramento.
We're just going to see,
you know, maybe stick around for
an hour or see what it does,
and you might have to go up tomorrow.
While it might not look like
much snow down in Colfax,
you can see the extent of
the problem further up.
80 Dutch flat saying whiteout
conditions Thursday afternoon,
this look from the Caltrans.
Camera over the highway truck driver
Darrell Haggard says he waited for more
than 3 1/2 hours when we spoke to him
and I thought I would make it
through. But the luck of nature.
He's driving a load of food
from Sacramento to Iowa,
but despite the waiting,
Haggard says safety comes
first. I can say that they actually looked
out for the lives of others due to the fact
that there were mishaps down the road,
so they enabled themselves to get it
cleaned up and kept us from running into
it for those thinking of traveling up.
The Sierra Caltrain says Friday
is not going to be a good time
due to weather conditions,
but they do say that Saturday and
Sunday storms are expected to be weaker,
so that might be a better time.
Alicia, thank you warming centers
are now open in Sacramento.
Several locations are open
and snacks will be available.
They are open from 7:00 PM
to 7:00 AM until March 3rd.
Now if you or your family need help,
you can contact 311 For more information,
and be sure to download the free ABC 10
app to get the latest news and weather
updates sent straight to your phone.