Sierra Nevada records its snowiest day of the season after a brief but powerful storm in California

TRUCKEE, Calif. — A weekend spring storm that drenched the San Francisco Bay region and closed mountain highways in Northern California also set a single-day snow record for the season in the Sierra Nevada on Sunday.

The wet weather system had largely cleared from the state by Sunday morning, but officials warned that roads would remain slippery after about two feet of snow fell in some parts of the Sierra.

“Does anyone have the snowiest day of the 2023/2024 season, namely May, on their winter bingo card?” asked the University of California, Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab on the social platform X.

Sunday’s 26.4 inches (67 centimeters) of snow beat the second snowiest day of the season — March 3 — by 2.6 inches (6.6 centimeters), according to the lab.

Treacherous driving conditions forced the closure of several highways near Lake Tahoe on Saturday, including Interstate 80 due to the Donner Summit.

Flood advisories were issued for parts of the Bay Area, where up to an inch of rain fell as temperatures fell into the low 40s (about 5 degrees Celsius), the National Weather Service said. Wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour were reported near San Francisco on Saturday.

The storm brought light rain and gusty winds to Southern California.

Drier and warmer conditions were expected throughout the week.