Live storm updates: Highway 168 to Shaver still closed; 24-hour Fresno rain total

THE LATEST: Highways closed Saturday morning

FROM FRIDAY: A look at how the storm is affecting the central San Joaquin Valley:

Highway 168 closed

9:30 p.m.: There is no estimated reopening for Highway 168 into the eastern Fresno County mountains, the CHP reported on social media. “State Route 168 at Lodge Road (bottom of four-lane) is CLOSED due to extreme snow conditions. As of tonight there is no estimation when it will reopen. “@ChpFresno and @CaltransDist6 are working tirelessly to get to stranded motorists and plow the roadways.”

Fresno rainfall total

8:10 p.m.: Fresno received 1.61 inches of rain in a 24-hour period ending at 8 p.m., the National Weather Service reported. That left the region with 11.05 inches of rain, above the normal 10.99 for the entire rainfall season, which runs from Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2023.

6:15 p.m.: Caltrans reported that the California Highway Patrol was escorting vehicles over Interstate 5, the Grapevine, from Bakersfield to the Los Angeles County line. The roadway was closed most of Friday.

High winds close Choinumni Park

4 p.m.: Choinumni Park near Piedra was shut down Friday afternoon due to high winds, Fresno County Public Works Department announced. Officials said the park would reopen Saturday morning at 7 a.m.

Power outage totals

8:30 p.m.: Power outages impacted thousands in the Madera County foothill communities including Oakhurst and Coarsegold. Pacific Gas and Electric workers were investigating the causes.

4:30 p.m.: PG&E updated the number of outages impacting customers in its San Joaquin Valley divisions:

▪ Fresno Division -879 customers out on 61 outages. This Division includes all of Fresno County, most of Kings County and portions of Tulare County.

▪ Kern Division –1,030 customers out on 60 outages. This Division includes Kern County.

Stockton Division – 248 customers out on 11 outages. This Division includes San Joaquin, Calaveras and Amador counties.

▪ Yosemite Division –3,090 customers out on 19 outages. This Division includes Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Merced, Mariposa and Madera counties.

Road conditions

5:30 p.m. : CHP continues to hold traffic on Highway 168 below the top of the four-lane section while crews clear cars stuck in heavy snow. Officer Pieter Peruch said all traffic was being turned around.

Highway 168 is under R3 chain controls — meaning chains are required for all vehicles, even 4-wheel drives with snow tires. Generally, four-wheel drives are allowed to maneuver the two-lane road to Shaver Lake without chains, under R2 conditions. According to the CHP, roadways are commonly closed before R3 controls. Peruch, working out of the Fresno Traffic Management Center, was asked if conditions were more treacherous during this storm because of ice under the snow, and he said that was possible.

Caltrans has reopened Highway 58 over Tehachapi Pass, with a CHP escort in both directions.

Interstate 5 remains closed over the Grapevine.

10:30 a.m.: The California Highway Patrol reported more than a dozen crashes during the morning commute, including on Highway 168 near Shaver Lake, where several cars were stuck in the heavy snowfall.

Traffic is being stopped at the top of the four-lane until the road is clear.

“We are expecting more of the same through the weekend,” said CHP public information officer Mike Salas.

The CHP asks that travelers postpone trips if possible, and to check weather reports before heading out on the road.

China Peak open

10:30 a.m.: While China Peak initially held off on a decision whether to open, the ski resort now says that chairs one and two are open and there are a few rooms available in the inn. So far, there has been two new feet of snow since Thursday, with up to three new feet expected through Saturday morning.

Other business in the foothills are being affected by the snow, too.

Wild Fig Kitchen in Coarsegold was closed on Friday because of the weather.

“Snow business leads to no business,” it wrote in a post on Instragram, which showed a snow-filled parking lot and cars completely covered in white powder.

PG&E outage updates

PG&E reported more than 100,000 customers without power systemwide Friday morning due to the storm, with the heaviest impacts in the northern part of the state.

But the storm is moving south, PG&E said in a statement Friday morning.

There were just over 1,000 customers without power in the Yosemite Division, which includes Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Merced, Mariposa and Madera counties.

In the Fresno Division, which includes Fresno County, most of Kings County and portions of Tulare County, there were 66 outages affecting some 2,616 customers.

More than 412,222 customers have been affected, and had their power restored, since the storm first hit on Tuesday. The company managed to restore 97% of affected costumers within the first 12 hours of an outage, according to PG&E.

ORIGINAL STORY: While the experts discuss whether Fresno technically got its first bit of snow in decades, there was no doubt Friday morning that it’s falling in the Sierra Nevada thanks to a series of winter storms pushing through the region.

Areas near Yosemite National Park could see two or three inches of snow per hour for stretches of Friday morning, according to the National Weather Service, which says “snow in the foothills will likely cripple travel through Saturday.”

Already, a series of traffic incidents had closed Highway 58 over Tehachapi Pass.

Interstate 5 was closed over the Grapevine due to snow and ice on the roadway with no estimated time for a reopening.

At 7,000 feet elevation in eastern Fresno County, China Peak Ski Resort at Huntington Lake even recommended people not head up the mountain quite yet.

“Highway 168 is in rough shape, particularly from Shaver to Huntington, so sit tight until you see an update,” the resort wrote on its website Friday morning.

“We will decide whether to open or not in the next hour or so.”

In the lower elevations, there is some chance of nuisance flooding through Saturday morning, particularly in the southern portion of the San Joaquin Valley, according to the NWS.

Power outages, park closures in Fresno area

PG&E reported several power outages Friday morning — including one impacting about 2,800 customers south of Fresno near Jensen and Clovis avenues starting around 6:30 a.m.



Another large outage near Highway 180 and McCall Avenue north of Sanger had been cleared from the PG&E outage map by 8 a.m.

The Fresno County Department of Public Works on Friday closed Kearney Park just southwest of Fresno due to the high winds. The park remains closed through Saturday morning.

This looks to be the first of several storms that will pass through the central San Joaquin Valley.

A short rain break on Sunday will be followed by another system moving in on Monday that is expected to last through the middle of the week.

College campus closes in Oakhurst through Monday as winter storm arrives

Blizzard warning in Southern California

Cold temperatures brought snow, hail and graupel to unusually low elevations in Southern California, including at the Hollywood sign, slicking mountain roadways and spurring some school districts to cancel classes ahead of possible blizzard conditions.

Though the storm may be novel for Northern California, it has the potential to be historic in the southern part of the state, especially Friday and Saturday, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said.

The “highly dynamic” system is likely to bring heavy rain, strong winds, thunderstorms and potential flooding to areas in and around Los Angeles, while snow levels could drop as low as 1,500 feet in the mountains of L.A. and Ventura counties. That’s the elevation of the Hollywood sign, where residents reported a wintry mix had landed Thursday afternoon.

“What is really kind of astonishing are the snow totals that are projected for the Southern California mountains and the southern Sierra Nevada,” Swain said.

Snowfall in some mountain areas could reach 3 or 4 feet over two days, with as much as 8 feet possible on certain mountain peaks.

The National Weather Service has issued rare blizzard warnings for the L.A., Ventura and San Bernardino county mountains beginning early Friday, warning of heavy snow, high winds and limited visibility.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.