FILE - Motorists navigate downtown Grass Valley, Calif.'s roadways during an early morning snowfall, on, Dec. 14, 2021. Forecasters said Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021, that another round of widespread rain and heavy snow in the mountains is shaping up for recently drenched California and much of Nevada in the coming week and could create hazards for holiday travelers. (Elias Funez/The Union via AP, File)
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LOS ANGELES (AP) - Parts of California are getting a White Christmas after all, with snowfall pounding mountains across the state.
Other areas of California, however, saw a wet and rainy Christmas as storms continue to drench the state, causing flash flooding and evacuations in some areas over the holiday period.
A 70-mile (113-kilometer) stretch of interstate over the top of the Sierra Nevada was closed Saturday when a storm that dropped nearly 2 feet (60 centimeters) of snow on some ski resorts around Lake Tahoe overnight got a second wind.
Interstate 80 connecting Reno, Nevada, to Sacramento, California, over the Sierra was closed in both directions due to poor visibility from the Nevada-California state line to Colfax, California.
'œThe worst part of the storm is here so expect long delays,'ť the California Highway Patrol in Truckee tweeted Saturday afternoon.
Friday night into Saturday, 20 inches (50 centimeters) of snow fell at Homewood on Tahoe's west shore. About a foot (30 centimeters) was reported at Northstar near Truckee, California and 10 inches (25 centimeters) at the Mount Rose ski resort on the southwest edge of Reno.
At Donner Pass in the Sierra, which is along the closed interstate, officials with the University of California, Berkeley's Central Sierra Snow Laboratory wondered on Twitter if the recent snowfall could break the snowiest December record of 179 inches (4.6 meters) set in 1970.
There's been at least 119 inches (3 meters) recorded so far this month , according to The Mercury News, with more expected over the next 72 hours.
The snowpack in the Sierra was at dangerously low levels after recent weeks of dry weather but the state Department of Water Resources reported on Christmas Eve that the snowpack was between 114% and 137% of normal across the range with more snow expected.
In the San Bernardino National Forest, crews are working on a $4.2 million emergency project to repair a section of State Route 18 that washed down a hillside late Thursday after heavy rain, according to The San Bernardino Sun.
The roadway is a major route to Big Bear Lake and the closure near Panorama Point could be 'œseveral days if not weeks,'ť the newspaper reported.
The Los Angeles area is likely to see rain and mountain snow for the next week, according to the National Weather Service, with temperatures significantly below normal through the middle of the week.
The San Diego region should see scattered showers, with heavy snow in the San Bernardino and Riverside County mountains, with precipitation possibly going into Thursday.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Bay Area is predicted to have rain showers through Monday before cold and drier conditions arrive through the middle of next week, the weather service said.
The storms across the West, which could drop rain and snow over much of the region into next week and plunge the Pacific Northwest into a lengthy cold snap, follow a now-departed atmospheric river that delivered copious amounts of precipitation earlier this week.
The National Weather Service says the Seattle-Tacoma area is likely to see up to 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of snow over the weekend. By early next week, the Seattle area will dip as low as 18 degrees Fahrenheit (-7.7 degrees Celsius), the lowest in several years. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, will drop to -5 F (-20 C) by Wednesday and Portland will drop to the low 20s and high teens.
Rain and snow records broke in Nevada and state officials in Oregon declared an emergency ahead of the freezing temperatures, snow and ice.
Recent forecasts show at least an inch of snow is likely to fall Sunday in the Seattle and Portland regions, which don't typically see snow.
But forecasters and state officials say the main concern is cold temperatures in the region, with daytime highs next week struggling to reach above freezing, that are likely to impact people experiencing homelessness and those without adequate access to heating.
In Arizona, a winter weather advisory remained in effect Saturday through the weekend in the upper elevations of the mountains north of the Grand Canyon near the Colorado line. But the wet weather that dumped record-breaking rain on Phoenix and Flagstaff on Friday was moving out of the area.
The 1.67 inches (4.2 centimeters) of rain that fell at the airport in Flagstaff on Friday shattered the old record of 0.87 inches (2.2 centimeters) set in 2019. The inch (2.5 centimeters) that was recorded in Phoenix Friday broke the old record of 0.93 of an inch (2.4 centimeters) in 1944.
It also was the wettest day for the city since Feb. 22, 2020, when just over an inch fell.
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AP writer Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, contributed to this report.
In this image taken from video from a Caltrans remote video traffic camera, traffic is stopped along a snow covered Interstate 80 at Donner Summit, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021. Heavy overnight rains in Northern California left two people dead in a submerged car as authorities on Thursday urged residents of several Southern California mountain and canyon communities to voluntarily leave their homes because of possible mud and debris flows. (Caltrans via AP)
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FILE - Firefighters and law enforcement vehicles are shown responding to calls about downed power lines on Dec. 14, 2021, in Nevada City, Calif. Forecasters said Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021, that another round of widespread rain and heavy snow in the mountains is shaping up for recently drenched California and much of Nevada in the coming week and could create hazards for holiday travelers. (Elias Funez/The Union via AP, File)
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Pedestrians carry umbrellas as they walk past a large holiday tree outside of the Chase Center in San Francisco, Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2021. Rain and snow showers fell on Northern California on Wednesday in the first wave of a wet weather pattern that is expected to spread throughout the state and last through Christmas into next week, forecasters said. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
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A cold weather front brings clouds skies and rainstorms to downtown San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021. Meteorologists say the storms are just the beginning of an "atmospheric river" that will bring more intense rainfall and heavy snow in the Sierras. A significant storm ramped up Sunday with snow in Northern California that forced drivers to wrap their tires in chains and light rain in the lower elevations. The storm promises to drop up to 8 feet of snow on the highest peaks and drench other parts of the state. (Brontë Wittpenn/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
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San Francisco resident Gokul Ramesh left, takes a video of breaking waves on The Embarcadero while walking with Neeraja Ravishankar in San Francisco on Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021. Meteorologists say the storms are just the beginning of an "atmospheric river" that will bring more intense rainfall and heavy snow in the Sierras. A significant storm ramped up Sunday with snow in Northern California forced drivers to wrap their tires in chains and light rain in the lower elevations. The storm promises to drop up to 8 feet of snow on the highest peaks and drench other parts of the state. (Brontë Wittpenn/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
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Storm clouds blanket the Los Angeles skyline is seen from Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area on Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. Forecasters issued a flood watch for areas east and southeast of Los Angeles starting Thursday evening because of possible heavy overnight rain fed by an atmospheric river, a long plume of moisture from the Pacific Ocean. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
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A woman with an umbrella rides her electric scooter through downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
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Storm clouds are seen over San Francisco in this view from Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021. Heavy overnight rains in Northern California left two people dead in a submerged car as authorities on Thursday urged residents of several Southern California mountain and canyon communities to voluntarily leave their homes because of possible mud and debris flows. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group via AP)
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Caltrans workers clear the remains of a 100-foot eucalyptus tree from the northbound lanes of Highway 13 in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021. Heavy overnight rains in Northern California left two people dead in a submerged car as authorities on Thursday urged residents of several Southern California mountain and canyon communities to voluntarily leave their homes because of possible mud and debris flows. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group via AP)
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Crews work at cutting up a large tree that fell across Silverado Canyon Road in Silverado, located in eastern Orange County, Calif., early Friday, Dec. 24, 2021, following an overnight storm that brought heavy rain and wind, knocking over a utility pole as it fell. The canyon areas are under mandatory evacuations following overnight storms that brought heavy rain and mudslides. The December 2020 Bond fire burned much of the the area and left the hills barren and vulnerable rock-filled mudslides. (Mark Rightmire/The Orange County Register via AP)
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A wall of sand bags protect a Christmas tree as well as homes along Grundy Way in Silverado Canyon, Calif., in eastern Orange County, from rocks and mudslides that washed down the mountain following an overnight storm that brought heavy rain, on Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. The December 2020 Bond fire burned much of the the area and left the hills above the canyon barren and vulnerable rock-filled mudslides. (Mark Rightmire/The Orange County Register via AP)
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A crew cleans up a mudslide that filled a drainage wash and covered Silverado Canyon Road in Silverado, located in eastern Orange County, Calif., following an overnight storm, on Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. (Mark Rightmire/The Orange County Register via AP)
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David Hunt, of Silverado Canyon, walks along Grundy Way at the intersection of Water Way in Silverado Canyon, Calif., located in eastern Orange County, stepping over rocks and mud that have washed down the mountain following an overnight storm that brought heavy rain to the area, on Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. The December 2020 Bond fire burned much of the the area and left the hills above the canyon barren and vulnerable rock-filled mudslides. (Mark Rightmire/The Orange County Register via AP)
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A large eucalyptus tree blocks the northbound lanes of Highway 13 just past Redwood Road in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021, as heavy rain falls across the region. Heavy overnight rains in Northern California left two people dead in a submerged car as authorities on Thursday urged residents of several Southern California mountain and canyon communities to voluntarily leave their homes because of possible mud and debris flows. (Jessica Christian/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
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A pedestrian walks with an umbrella outside of the Chase Center in San Francisco, Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2021. Rain and snow showers fell on Northern California on Wednesday in the first wave of a wet weather pattern that is expected to spread throughout the state and last through Christmas into next week, forecasters said. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
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An airliner takes an approach through storm clouds to Hollywood Burbank Airport, in Burbank, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021. Parts of California are getting a White Christmas after all, with snowfall pounding mountains across the state. Other areas of California, however, saw a wet and rainy Christmas as storms continue to pound the state, causing flash flooding and evacuations in some areas over the holiday period. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
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