Traveling through California’s Grapevine on Sunday? What to know about the big storm
This story has been updated. Click here for the latest updates on Fresno’s winter weather forecast this week.
Original story below:
Anyone finishing off the holiday weekend with a trip home through the Sierra foothills might want to start early as snow levels could drop to 2,000 feet and forecasters say higher elevations could get hammered with up to a foot of snow. Sunday evening.
The National Weather Service in Hanford cautioned that travel could be nearly impossible during a storm that is expected to roll in between 4 and 6 p.m.
“The next system will be coming in this afternoon, so we went ahead and issued a winter storm warning for the foothills, and we’ve been carrying a winter storm warning for the higher levels of the Sierra,” said Jeff Barlow, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“That’s going to start today at 4 o’clock, so we have a little break here to catch our breath and then we have this next system coming in (Sunday night) and pretty much lasting through most of the day (Monday). We’re seeing potentially eight to 16 inches of snow, and the lower amounts will be in the lower elevations, but we’re looking at snow levels to get down potentially to as low as 2,000 feet, and that would include Auberry, Oakhurst, and Three Rivers, and some of the lower-elevations communities in the foothills.”
At the higher elevations above 6,000 feet, the storm could bring two to four feet of snow.
“It’s another big one coming in (Sunday night),” Barlow said.
Travel could be impacted through the Grapevine and Tehachapi Pass, and a winter weather advisory has been issued, though the storm is not expected to impact the south valley until early Monday morning, around 4 a.m.
“With tonight’s system, we’ll see a little more snow with this one down in the south,” Barlow said. “But we’ve been in collaboration with Cal Trans, and they’re ready, they’re prepared.
“They have all the trucks and the plows. We’re making sure because it is such a high-impact travel day with a lot of people heading home with the Christmas holiday. We’ve been working very close with them to make sure the Grapevine stays open, but tomorrow morning will be interesting because a lot of people in the foothills are going to wake up to a nice, fresh dusting of snow. The storm that’s moving in tonight, this is going to be another pretty high-impact event, especially in the lower communities.”
There was an outside chance that Fresno could see a mix of rain and snow on Tuesday, but the snowflakes at least are unlikely with the snow level not expected to dip below 1,500 feet.
This story was originally published December 26, 2021 at 10:00 AM.