Winter storm brings snow, high winds to Lake Tahoe

RENO -- A winter storm brought snow and high winds Friday to the Reno-Lake Tahoe area, shutting down some ski lifts and stalling traffic over mountain highways.

Chains were mandatory on some highways around Tahoe, including U.S. Highway 50 over Echo Summit and sections of California Highway 89 on Tahoe's west shore. Similar controls were later lifted on Interstate 80 over Donner Summit.

The fast-moving storm was expected to drop up to 8 inches of snow on the Sierra Nevada crest, National Weather Service forecaster Jane Hollingsworth of Reno said.

"Once this storm goes through, this is it," she said. "For this area, we don't see any chance of snow for the next week."

The storm produced wind gusts of up to 101 mph on the Sierra crest and 69 mph in the Reno area.

The high winds caused some Tahoe ski resorts, including Alpine Meadows and Heavenly, to shut down some lifts.

The storm also was blamed for many mostly minor traffic accidents, including a multiple-vehicle accident over Kingsbury Grade in Douglas County.