Heavy Snow in California, February 8 to 10, 2019

Name: Heavy Snow in California, February 8 to 10, 2019
Start: 2019-02-08T16:00
End: 2019-02-10T08:00
Location: California

February 8 to 10, 2019 · NWS STO · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

A wet storm brought heavy mountain snow with travel delays. Snow extended into the upper foothills, with some local power outages.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $200,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 5

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS STO wrote it up.

A wet storm brought heavy mountain snow with travel delays. Snow extended into the upper foothills, with some local power outages.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Sacramento, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 8, 3:31 PM PST, 29 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 8, 3:31 PM PST, 29 minutes before

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Event by event

5 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada

When: February 8, 4:00 PM PST to February 10, 8:00 AM PST
Where: West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada forecast zone
Reported by: Department of Highways

Heavy snow caused chain controls, travel restrictions and closures on mountain highways. I80 was closed for about an hour eastbound and westbound between Colfax and the Nevada state line.

Caltrans reported 60 of snow over 24 hours at Castle Peak (Donner Pass) with a storm total of 68 of snow over 48 hours. Squaw Valley Ski Resort had 46 over 24 hours. Kingvale had 45 over 48 hours, 44 over 72 hours for CoCoRaHS 1.5 SSW Soda Springs. Other 24 hour reports: Alpine Meadows Ski Resort had 38, Sierra at Tahoe 37, Boreal 36, Kirkwood 31, Bear Valley 30, Pacific House 17.

Heavy Snow, Motherlode/Camptonville to Groveland

When: February 8, 4:00 PM PST to February 10, 8:00 AM PST
Where: Motherlode/Camptonville to Groveland forecast zone
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Heavy snow caused travel delays on foothill highways and some reported downed trees and local power outages. A trained spotter in Placerville at elevation 2,180 ft reported 3 inches of snow, 2 inches of snow at Jamestown (in 24 hours). Social media had a report of 7 inches at in 24 hours in Tuolumne at an elevation of 2800 ft and a trace of snow in Volcano at elevation 2800 ft. A downed tree caused some power outages in Sonora.

Heavy Snow, Mt Shasta/Western Plumas County

When: February 8, 4:00 PM PST to February 10, 8:00 AM PST
Where: Mt Shasta/Western Plumas County forecast zone
Reported by: Department of Highways

Heavy snow caused travel delays on mountain highways. The Chester COOP had a storm total of 9 inches of new snow, the Quincy COOP observer reported a storm total of 7 inches.

Heavy Snow, Northeast Foothills/Sacramento Valley

When: February 8, 4:00 PM PST to February 10, 8:00 AM PST
Where: Northeast Foothills/Sacramento Valley forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer

Snow caused travel delays on foothill highways. The COOP observer at Montgomery Creek reported a storm total of 8 inches of new snow. CoCoRaHS observers at Shingletown 5.3 ENE had a total of 5 inches, Shingletown 2.5 E had 6.4 inches.

Heavy Snow, Clear Lake/Southern Lake County

When: February 8, 4:00 PM PST to February 10, 8:00 AM PST
Where: Clear Lake/Southern Lake County forecast zone
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: Trained Spotter

A trained spotter at Hobergs (3,250 ft elevation) reported a snow total of 5 inches of snow. This caused travel delays in the area.

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in California in 2019 Every state in 2019 This day in weather history Warnings in California, February 2019

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 809503, 809504, 809520, 809538, 809539.