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A cold front brought snow to as low as 400 feet in elevation and wind gusts as high as 64 mph in Del Norte County on Wednesday and Thursday.

Heavy snow toppled trees and brought down limbs on U.S. 199 overnight, prompting the California Highway Patrol to close the highway from Hiouchi to the Oregon border, CHP spokeswoman Brandy Gonzalez told the Wild Rivers Outpost on Thursday.

Though 199 reopened at about 12:52 p.m. Thursday, Gonzalez reminded motorists to pay attention to road conditions before they start their trip.

“We’re still having inclement weather,” Gonzalez said. “We’re expecting snow later on tonight, we have rocks down, so you need to be very cautious. Drive slowly and put all your focus on the road.”

Wind gusts as high as 64 mph at the Del Norte County Airport heralded the cold front that caused snow levels to drop quickly, National Weather Service meteorologist Brad Charboneau said. In Del Norte County, the mountain community of Gasquet, which is about 400 feet in elevation, saw snow, as did Willow Creek in Humboldt County.

In addition to prompting officials to close U.S. 199, snow also caused closures on U.S. 101 south of Garberville, Charboneau said.

“That was the really big story was that the low elevation snow caused a lot of problems for driving and for the roads around the area,” Charboneau said. “If you’re within a couple of miles of the ocean — Eureka and Crescent City and the cities that sit right on the coast — those are about the only areas that did not get cold enough to see at least some snow.”

Though it did not get snow, Crescent City received about 2.14 inches of rain over the last 24 hours, Charboneau said. Eureka had about 1.31 inches.

“We’re still expecting some more showers today,” Charboneau said. “I believe there are still showers right around Crescent City on and off for the rest of the day and (will) diminish overnight tonight. It’ll be chilly tonight with maybe ice on the interior roads, especially, and tomorrow will be dry.”

In addition to weather-related problems on U.S. 199, crews with the Del Norte County Roads Division were busy clearing up fallen trees on South Fork Road since about 3:30 a.m. Thursday, a division representative told the Outpost. She estimated there were about 40 trees down on South Fork Road.

Road crews were also busy addressing trees down on Knopki Creek off U.S. 199 and Low Divide Road off State Route 197, she said.
The snow Gasquet received kept students from Crescent City and one teacher from attending classes at Mountain Elementary School, Del Norte Unified School District spokesman Michael Hawkins told the Outpost. Those students reconvened at Del Norte Community Day School, he said.

“Anybody who was not able to make it to school today, their absences will not be counted against them,” Hawkins said. “U.S. 199 is open. As of now, school bus routes will resume as normal tomorrow. They are not going to be traveling up 199 today, but tomorrow bus routes will be picking up children just like normal.”

At Margaret Keating Elementary School in Klamath, intermittent power outages prompted the school to send students open at about 2 p.m., roughly 30 minutes to an hour earlier than usual, Hawkins said. School is expected to resume its normal hours on Friday, Hawkins said, though the district will monitor Pacific Power’s status on restoring and stabilizing electricity in Klamath.

“If Pacific Power doesn’t have the issue resolved by late tonight, we’ll send out a correspondence,” Hawkins told the Outpost. “If we get a message from Pacific Power telling us that it may be out in the morning, but is going to be fixed shortly, we will still have school.”

Though Friday is expected to be mostly dry, about a quarter-inch of rain is expected for Saturday, Charboneau said.

“Enough to keep Saturday damp and gloomy,” he said. “It will be warmer. We’re not expecting major snow impacts except for some high passes.”

Forecasters expect Sunday to be dry with another round of rain and wind headed to the area Monday and Tuesday, Charboneau said.

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