Western Railroad Discussion > A Miracle March is on the way for the Sierra.

Forecasts Now Call for Up to 9 Feet of Snow In the Sierra This Week (msn.com)

We will have to see this to believe it. It may still be a bit early to call. 

March expected to come in like a lion in the western US | Watch (msn.com)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/24 20:21 by czuleget.

It's a serious storm. There's been talk about it for a few days, here's an area including Norden on Donner Pass; note it says the advisory is cancelled because a watch over rides an advisory; similar elevations for the Oregon California border area:West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada-
Including the city of Blue Canyon
229 PM PST Mon Feb 26 2024

...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM EARLY THURSDAY THROUGH
SUNDAY MORNING...
...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR MONDAY FEBRUARY 26 IS CANCELLED...

* WHAT...Extremely heavy snow and strong winds possible, bringing
whiteout conditions at times. Total snow accumulations of 5 to
12 feet possible above 5000 feet. Accumulations 1 to 4 feet
above 3000 feet with lighter accumulations down to 2000 feet.
Winds could gust as high as 60 mph.

* WHERE...West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada. Including Interstate
80 and US Highway 50.

* WHEN...From early Thursday through Sunday morning.

6 to 7 feet is more likely at Norden.  Snow level north of Rewdding will be down to Lakehead. Could see 2 ft. at Dunsmuir and 3 feet at Mt. Shasta City.  On I-80. overt a fot is likely at Colfax maybe more with sticking snow at Applegate at a flurry or two just outside of Auburn.  Sticking snow on cajon and the Tehacapais down to 3500ft.  Saturdasy to Sunday morning best for good snow shots.   Meteeorlogist Mike Pechner

Trains don't run much over Donner Pass these days when the snow gets heavy.  

Not sure why. Am guessing it'll be a train ghost town on Friday out these parts.  

Chuck 

I'm not sure the FRC will provide much relief. They are having very frequent rock slides. Currently, Tobin is predicting 3 inches of rain on Friday, I suspect that will close both the railroad and the highway.

Do you think they will move trains south through Tehachapi or just hold them on either side of the mountain?

Posted from Android

My Las Vegas Bookie has been asking about that snow equipment. I'm not going there but it would be an interesting time to hear what the action is at the ready track in Roseville.

The media summaries are not a lot of snow at the RR summit elevation but a lot all at once, expect I-80 to be closed for an extended time.

In the Shasta area what we see is all the trucks adjust there times to get into the snow zone before the chain control sets up. During the big snow the trucks get stuck all over the parking areas and then drag out onto the road or back up on the shoulder and then go sideways, because they have all that experiience that they don't need chains. Often the road will close for a few days until CalTrans can bring a road grade around and pull all the trucks out. SR89 turns into a serious mess, trucks everywhere including those summer time short cuts on the Medicine Lake Forest Service road. Both I-5 and SR89 can be closed a few days.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My Las Vegas Bookie has been asking about that
> snow equipment. I'm not going there but it would
> be an interesting time to hear what the action is
> at the ready track in Roseville.
>
> The media summaries are not a lot of snow at the
> RR summit elevation but a lot all at once, expect
> I-80 to be closed for an extended time.
>
> In the Shasta area what we see is all the trucks
> adjust there times to get into the snow zone
> before the chain control sets up. During the big
> snow the trucks get stuck all over the parking
> areas and then drag out onto the road or back up
> on the shoulder and then go sideways, because they
> have all that experiience that they don't need
> chains. Often the road will close for a few days
> until CalTrans can bring a road grade around and
> pull all the trucks out. SR89 turns into a serious
> mess, trucks everywhere including those summer
> time short cuts on the Medicine Lake Forest
> Service road. Both I-5 and SR89 can be closed a
> few days.

Last year when 80 was closed, it was like an army convoy of Walmart trucks here in Burney using 89 to get to Susanville/Reno, more traffic than I have seen here in a long time. Taking Medicine Lake short cut its NUTS, those  roads were still snowmobile-only into June last year.  

I too am curious if the RR is staging any equiptment in preperation for this storm.  

Yep, heard the SO and CHP sent out in the dark to find a semi truck taking the short cut, not medicine lake but that's close enough. They found the truck driver walking out in the truck ruts, that must have been really cold at that hour. A big rig tow went in and pulled it out a few days later, no doubt with a County Road snow plow. They have some Museum pieces but they do a great job.

Another discussion site is talking about the WalMart warehouses being cut off by the storms. Didn't know about that but that sounds very real. There's another big distribution 'center' just south of Red Bluff.

+ watching the forecast updates the FarNorCal info is morphing into less effect but longer duration, kinda falling back to the time honored forecast of ' something's going to happen '. The forecast's have become much more accurate since they installed a window into the building though.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/24 11:11 by TCnR.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My Las Vegas Bookie has been asking about that
> snow equipment. I'm not going there but it would
> be an interesting time to hear what the action is
> at the ready track in Roseville.
>
> The media summaries are not a lot of snow at the
> RR summit elevation but a lot all at once, expect
> I-80 to be closed for an extended time.
>
> In the Shasta area what we see is all the trucks
> adjust there times to get into the snow zone
> before the chain control sets up. During the big
> snow the trucks get stuck all over the parking
> areas and then drag out onto the road or back up
> on the shoulder and then go sideways, because they
> have all that experiience that they don't need
> chains. Often the road will close for a few days
> until CalTrans can bring a road grade around and
> pull all the trucks out. SR89 turns into a serious
> mess, trucks everywhere including those summer
> time short cuts on the Medicine Lake Forest
> Service road. Both I-5 and SR89 can be closed a
> few days.

Is your bookie taking bets on whether or not the rotories will be needed??

Keith_Kevet

Posted from Android