Sierra storm delights skiers, delays motorists

RENO -- Crews repaired downed power lines, motorists cursed and skiers rejoiced Friday as another winter storm raced through the Sierra with more snow and strong winds, including one gust of 142 mph over a mountain ridge west of Lake Tahoe.

Scattered power outages were reported across a 150 mile stretch of northern Nevada from Lake Tahoe to Winnemucca. The most widespread was east of Carson City in Dayton, where schools were closed, NV Energy spokesman Karl Walquist said.

As much as a foot of fresh snow was expected at Lake Tahoe by the time the storm was forecast to make its way out of the region Friday afternoon.

Interstate 80 over Donner Summit, a major artery into northern California, was closed for nearly six hours before reopening at 6:30 a.m., said Donna Jones, a California Department of Transportation supervisor in Kingvale, Calif.

"The blowing snow caused zero visibility. So for safety reasons we closed it," Jones said.

The snow was welcome news for Tahoe ski resorts, which are gearing up for the busy holiday period. Forecasts called for a chance of snow almost every day through at least Christmas at Tahoe.

The Boreal ski area atop Donner Summit planned to operate six of seven lifts today after the latest storm dropped up to a foot of snow. The resort reported a total of 57 inches of snow in the past week.

Before a series of storms began last weekend, the Tahoe snowpack stood at only about 2 percent of average for the date.

"Things are looking great now," Boreal spokesman Jon Slaughter said Friday. "It feels like winter."