SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) — Parts of California are getting a White Christmas after all, with snowfall pounding mountains across the state.
Other areas of California, however, saw a wet and rainy Christmas as storms continue to drench the state, causing flash flooding and evacuations in some areas over the holiday period.
A 70-mile stretch of interstate over the top of the Sierra Nevada was closed Saturday when a storm that dropped nearly 2 feet of snow on some ski resorts around Lake Tahoe overnight got a second wind.
Interstate 80 connecting Reno to Sacramento over the Sierra was closed in both directions due to poor visibility from the Nevada-California state line to Colfax, California.
“The worst part of the storm is here so expect long delays,” the California Highway Patrol in Truckee tweeted Saturday afternoon.
Friday night into Saturday, 20 inches of snow fell at Homewood on Tahoe’s west shore. About a foot was reported at Northstar near Truckee and 10 inches at the Mount Rose ski resort.
Sunday Snow Forecast (NWS) 
At Donner Pass in the Sierra officials with the University of California, Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Laboratory wondered on Twitter if the recent snowfall could break the snowiest December record of 179 inches set in 1970.
There’s been at least 119 inches recorded so far this month with more expected over the next 72 hours.
The snowpack in the Sierra was at dangerously low levels after recent weeks of dry weather but the state Department of Water Resources reported on Christmas Eve that the snowpack was between 114% and 137% of normal across the range with more snow expected.
A winter storm warning stretching all the way to Tuesday has been issued by the National Weather Service for the Lake Tahoe area.
“Additional snow accumulations of 1 to 3 feet, except 3 to 5 feet above 7,000 feet,” the weather service in Reno warned. “Wind gusts 30 to 40 mph. Sierra ridges may see gusts in excess of 100 mph.”
Another dose of blinding snow storms and high winds were creating a scenario ripe for avalanches.
“High avalanche danger is expected through Monday morning in the mountains,” NWS forecasters said. “Heavy snowfall and extremely strong winds have created unstable avalanche conditions in the mountains. Large natural avalanches and human-triggered avalanches are expected.”
© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report
Source: sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com.