Winter Weather Alerts for Nine States as Hazardous Conditions Forecast

Multiple parts of the U.S. are bracing for a miserable Easter weekend, with different winter weather alerts issued in nine states.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has published multiple full warnings in California, Wyoming and Nevada, along with additional alerts for Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Maine and Alaska.

In California, a winter storm warning is in place for the Santa Barbara County Interior Mountains zone, as well as the Southern Ventura County Mountains and Northern Ventura County Mountains zones.

Heavy snow of up to 24 inches is expected, with wind gusts as high as 65 mph, making travel “very difficult to impossible” and creating a risk of tree branches falling down, the NWS said.

If you have to drive while the alert is in place, from 8 p.m. Friday to 11 p.m. Sunday Pacific Time, the NWS advises that you “keep an extra flashlight, food and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency.”

A man digs out a car at the Boreal Mountain ski resort in California’s Sierra Nevada at the beginning of March. This week, several snow warnings are in place for areas of the state.

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An almost identical warning is in place for the Interstate 5 corridor, the western San Gabriel Mountains, the Highway 14 corridor and the eastern San Gabriel Mountains, from 2 a.m. Saturday to 11 p.m. Sunday.

Heavy snow could accumulate up to 30 inches, and wind gusts could increase to as high as 60 mph.

Elsewhere in California, in Hanford a storm warning has been issued from the Sierra Nevada and Yosemite National Park to Tulare County from 11 a.m. Friday to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Residents could see 1 to 2 feet of snow, while those on higher ground could be hit with 3 feet, with wind gusts up to 50 mph.

Two more similar alerts are in place for Hanford, in the Piute Walker Basin and Tehachapi areas and the Frazier Mountain area and nearby communities. Both are in place from 4 p.m. Friday to some point on Sunday evening.

Parts of Sacramento are also under alert, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, with heavy snow and powerful winds likely.

Mountains of western Shasta County to western Colusa County above 4,000 feet are forecast to see snow levels between 3,500 and 4,500 feet, with the heaviest snowfall expected Friday afternoon.

California has faced an abnormally wet winter as moisture-laden storms and atmospheric rivers have caused downpours of snow and rain since January.

Meanwhile, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, two warnings are in place from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Sunday Mountain Time. They cover the Sierra Madre Range and the Snowy Range, with cautions issued for “patchy blowing snow significantly reducing visibility,” which could cause snowmobilers and hikers to become disorientated and lost.

In Nevada, Las Vegas and Reno are also under full winter weather warnings, with heavy snow expected in the Spring Mountains-Red Rock Canyon area and the Greater Lake Tahoe area.

Less severe winter weather advisories have been issued in six other states, with four in Colorado, one in Montana, two in North Dakota, two in Wisconsin, one in Maine and 12 in Alaska.

Travel could be difficult, with slippery roads and reduced visibility in many of these places, the NWS warned.

Many parts of the country have been hit by a spring storm this week, one of several that have affected the turn from winter to spring this year.

This late March storm was estimated to dump snow on half a million square miles of north-central land in the U.S. throughout this week, according to weather forecaster AccuWeather.