LAKE COUNTY— The significant atmospheric river storm brought with it widespread heavy rain, gusty winds, and heavy, low-elevation snow, and wreaked havoc on the region including Lake County Tuesday, causing the closure of highways and downed power lines and dumping eight to 16 inches of snow in various locations throughout the county. Forecasters predicted the storm would unfold Tuesday afternoon and continue into Thursday.
The National Weather Service in Eureka announced more rain and snow Wednesday day and night. Gusty winds were expected at times as well. Forecasters noted snow levels would gradually rise through the day Wednesday to around 2,500 feet.
Officials urged residents to continue to monitor the forecast for updates. Additional rain and snow was expected Thursday, with Friday expected to be the driest day of the week with only a few light showers. Another cold system is expected Friday night into early Saturday.
According to the California Highway Patrol, Highway 175 Cobb remained under four wheel drive and chain restrictions Wednesday morning and Highway 175 in Hopland remained closed, Highway 20 and 29 were open. Bottle Rock Road, from Sulphur Creek Rd to Hwy 175 was closed to all traffic due to down power lines and trees. Officials gave no estimate on reopening at press time.
“Please use caution while driving due to the snow and wet weather,” noted Clearlake Police Department officials Wednesday via social media, adding that with the recent snow, there has been an increase in fallen trees, debris, and power lines in the roadways. “Public Works and PG&E are working to clear hazards with a focus on main thoroughfares and hazards to homes.”
Officials also noted that Lake County roads were also extremely slippery and may have ice built up under the fallen snow. “Everyone is advised to drive slower, give more following distance when following vehicles and begin stopping sooner when approaching a controlled intersection,” department officials noted.
“The roads are snow covered in some areas,” stated Sheriff Brian Martin late Tuesday via the County’s Office of Emergency Services. “Power Lines reported down in various areas and power outages reported in some areas. We recommend that you stay home unless absolutely necessary,” he warned.
“This our first good winter storm of the season,” Martin said in a video posted on social media channels late Tuesday. “Be sure to drive safely, slow it down allow for extra time. A lot of these roads are wet that may not have been wet before so make sure that you slow down, take a little bit of extra time to get where you need to go. If it’s not safe to go somewhere don’t try it.”
Samuel Gaytan, road supervisor for Lake County Transit said Wednesday, “Due to the bad weather and all the hazards around our county. We have canceled service for today.”
Local education
The storm also affected the start time of local schools, those not currently closed as a result of COVID-19. According to Robert Young, emergency preparedness and special projects coordinator with Lake County Office of Education, Konocti Unified Schools experienced a two hour delay start Wednesday, pending power being restored to facilities.
Kelseyville Unified Schools were offering distance learning only with students and staff will be working from home. Lake County International Charter School was open as were Lakeport Unified Schools
LCOE Hance, LCOE Creativity School, Lucerne Elementary School: Open, Middletown Unified Schools, Upper Lake Unified Schools. Young added that the Lake County Office of Education’s Preschools would follow district lead (i.e. if the district is open the preschool is open.) Morning sessions within the Konocti Unified School District were closed.
“Woodland Community College Lake County Campus will be closed today due to winter storm,” said Cirilio Cortez, Dean of Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College. Cortez added that online instruction that can occur will continue as well as student service remotely.
Significant power outages
“Crews are working to restore power to approximately 5,822 customers whose power is currently impacted in Lake County,” said Power Gas & Electric spokesperson Deanna Contreras Wednesday adding that the utility officials did not have estimated restoration times, as “crews are still investigating what needs to be repaired after several weather-related outages.”
Contreras addressed the several different outages impacting small numbers of customers throughout the County, where crews have fanned out to restore power safely and as quickly as possible and noted that he outages started after 8pm on Tuesday. She said the areas with the largest impacts on customers are Cobb and Kelseyville with 1,715 customers without power Wednesday morning in the former and 1,561 currently out in the latter. Seven hundred and twenty three customers were without power in the Clearlake Oaks area.
