Tioga Pass reopens after weekend snow, ice

Tioga Road, the road crossing over Tioga Pass from Yosemite National Park to the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, reopened about 9:30 a.m. Monday after it was closed for much of the weekend because of snow and icy conditions.

The storms that swept through the San Joaquin Valley on Saturday night and Sunday morning brought only a few inches of snow to Tioga Pass, said Ashley Mayer, a public information officer for the park. “But with the cold temperatures and the moisture, it just really created some icy and hazardous conditions up there,” she said.

No snow was reported from the storm in Yosemite Valley, but “we did get some rain in the valley, which was very welcome,” Mayer said.

Over the last 10 years, the earliest that the Tioga Pass road has closed for the winter season was Oct. 30, in 2008; the latest closing date was during the winter of 2011-2012, when the road wasn’t shut to traffic until mid-January. In most years, the seasonal closure happens sometime in November.

This story was originally published October 5, 2015 at 11:39 AM with the headline "Tioga Pass reopens after weekend snow, ice."