Travel challenges, rising river arrive with latest storm

The storm system moving through Northern California is adding snow to tempt travelers to the upper foothills and higher elevations, but also means decreased visibility, chain controls and possible delays on the roads, the National Weather Service warns.

And the Tuolumne River is expected to rise, though not to flood levels, as irrigation officials release more water into it.

A forecast for Highway 108 through early Thursday says Twain Harte could get 3 to 4 inches of snow, Mi-Wuk Village 6 to 8 inches, and Strawberry 24 to 30 inches. Along Highway 4, Arnold could get 4 to 6 inches, and Bear Valley at least 36 inches, the weather service says.

At Pinecrest Lake, which is a popular sledding destination, the weather service forecast said 5 to 9 inches of snow could fall Tuesday, with an additional 12 to 18 inches possible Tuesday night. Wednesday at Pinecrest is expected to bring snow in the morning hours, turning to rain by late afternoon. Snowfall is forecast at 3 to 5 inches. Additional snowfall of 2 to 4 inches is possible there Thursday.

How the snow fares in the days afterward is uncertain, as heavy rain is possible Saturday night through Sunday night.

At the Dodge Ridge Wintersports Area a few miles east of Pinecrest, 4 to 8 inches of snow was possible Tuesday, with an additional 12 to 18 inches Tuesday night, according to the weather service. Wednesday, the forecast is for an additional 9 to 13 inches, then 4 to 8 inches more that night. Thursday could bring an additional 3 to 5 inches.

The ski resort opened after the Christmas weekend storm. On its online snow report Tuesday, Dodge Ridge said, “In the last 24 hours, we’ve received 13 inches of snow at the summit and 8 inches at the base, providing light and fluffy powder and groomers throughout the mountain, with 12 to 35 inches of base depths.”

The storm system is increasing water inflow to Don Pedro Reservoir. To accommodate the rise, Turlock Irrigation District will over the next seven to 10 days make seasonal releases to the Tuolumne River. River flows will reach about 7,000 cubic feet per second from the current release of about 1,100 cfs, said TID spokesman Calvin Curtin.

“These are normal operations and not anything out of the ordinary, but it’s been several years since we’ve had releases this high,” Curtin said in an email. “While these releases will cause the river to rise significantly, they will not be enough to push it out of its historic channel.”

TID urges the public to be very careful around the river, Curtin said, because the high-flow conditions will cause the river to be swifter, and it could contain more debris than normal.

For real-time river flow information, visit www.tid.org/river.

This story was originally published January 3, 2017 at 10:07 AM with the headline "Travel challenges, rising river arrive with latest storm."