Holiday weekend to bring rain in higher elevations

Travelers can expect thunderstorms and snow in the higher elevations during Memorial Day weekend, the National Weather Service in Hanford said.

Yosemite is expected to receive a thunderstorm on Saturday night while the Sierra is expected to receive rain on Sunday afternoon, said Jim Dudley at the weather service office in Hanford.

Snow is also expected at elevations above 9,000 feet, but major travel issues are not expected, Dudley said.

There shouldn’t be any problems on the Tioga Pass and road closures are not expected, but the rain can be an inconvenience if people want to camp, Dudley said.

Traffic has also been smooth on the lower elevations during the holiday weekend.

The California Highway Patrol said Saturday night there were no reports of major accidents so far during the weekend.

Extra patrols are out, including local officers running DUI checkpoints.

The “Avoid the 21” DUI task force campaign in Fresno and Madera counties led to the arrests of seven people during overnight checkpoints Friday. The CHP, one of 21 participating agencies, will have all of its on-duty officers patrolling highways and county roads throughout the state during the holiday weekend.

People are encouraged to report drunken driving to local law enforcement by calling 911.

Another overnight DUI checkpoint in Visalia led to the arrests of three men for suspected drunk driving.

This story was originally published May 23, 2015 at 8:23 PM with the headline "Holiday weekend to bring rain in higher elevations."