A “vigorous” storm hit California hard last night. It dropped lots of snow and caused lots of trouble. A Winter Storm Warning remains in effect in California until 4pm today with another 4-6″ of snowfall expected.

A large avalanche buried 2 cars, damaged one home, and buried Alpine Meadows Road under 5-feet of snow at 7:50am today. 3 people had to be rescued from their buried cars.

Squaw & Alpine are completely closed as of 12pm today due to wind and snow and avalanches. The summit of Squaw saw gusts as high as 123mph last night and its anemometer (wind-o-meter) has broken due to high winds. Alpine Meadows just saw a gust of 104mph at 10am.

104mph wind gust at Alpine Meadows at 10am today. image: noaa, today

Squaw has announced that Alpine will not open today due to avalanche danger. Squaw may open today but only Squaw Creek, Red Dog, Far East scheduled. No KT-22 today.

Squaw and Alpine completely closed as of 10:15am today. — Squaw and Alpine completely closed as of 11:55am today.

CURRENT CALIFORNIA STORM STATS:

Up to 24″ of new snow fell last night with snowfall rates as high as 2″ per hour.
A large avalanche buried 2 cars, damaged one home, and buried Alpine Meadows Road under 5-feet of snow at 7:50am today. 3 people had to be rescued from their buried cars.

“North Tahoe Fire and Squaw Valley Fire units responded at approximately 7:50 this morning to a reported avalanche in the Alpine Meadows area. One structure was damaged and 2 vehicles were involved, three people were quickly rescued, no injuries have been reported. Emergency units remain on scene, the area is currently secured. We are in a high-avalanche period and people are asked to remain out of the area. Alpine Meadows Road may be closed for an extended period of time. Residents in the area should avoid unnecessary travel.” – North Tahoe Fire, today

Carson Spur (highway 88, Kirkwood) is closed as of 10am

SR 88
    [IN THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA & SIERRA NEVADA]
    IS CLOSED FROM 3.5 MI EAST OF SILVER LAKE TO KIRKWOOD /CARSON SPUR/ 
(AMADOR CO) - DUE TO AVALANCHE CONTROL - MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN 
ALTERNATE ROUTE - Caltrans, today at 10:10am

Squaw is completely closed as of 12pm. They hope to open Red Dog, Squaw Creek, Far East at 1:30pm today.
Alpine Meadows is completely closed for the day.
Highway 80 was closed this am but reopened around 5:30am.
Squaw Patrol has seen lots of avalanche activity and the Squaw Fire Department recommends you stay inside:

“The new snow has created a very high to extreme level of avalanche risk in avalanche-prone areas. Alpine Meadows Road was hit with a natural slide this morning that deposited five feet of snow on the road, hit a bus and homes.

If you are in the high risk avalanche area in Squaw Valley, we strongly recommend avoiding outdoor activity in exposed areas. Squaw Valley Ski Patrol has seen considerable avalanche activity in areas with similar exposure to the Sandy Way avalanche path and the slide on Alpine Meadows Road mimics the conditions above Sandy Way.” – Squaw Valley Fire Department, today