Snowed in: Authorities advise drivers to avoid the roads and stay home, if possible – The Union

Talk about a winter wonderland.

Grass Valley received between 9 inches and a foot of snow Sunday night, according to the National Weather Service. The storm downed trees, knocking out power to thousands of people and shuttering the main highways into and out of western Nevada County.

If you dont have to go somewhere, dont, because most of the state routes are closed, California Highway Patrol Officer Chris West said. If you dont need to come to the area, dont.

The storm system, which started last week, yielded 100 inches of snow at North Star, Sugar Bowl, the Central Sierra Snow Lab and Palisades Tahoe. According to Meteorologist Katrina Hand, those same resorts received 2 to 3 feet in a 24-hour period.

Under a half-inch of snow could fall today in Grass Valley, with another 1 to 2 inches tonight. One to 3 inches could fall Wednesday, forecasts state.

After Wednesday, it clears up a bit, Hand said. With that, though, the temperatures will drop with highs in the 30s and lows in the upper 20s.

The snow was wet and heavy enough to threaten power throughout Sunday night, with lights flickering throughout the Glenbrook Basin.

According to PG&E spokesperson Megan McFarland, 69,000 households were without power as of 2:35 p.m. Monday.

Some of the major outages in the area were in Grass Valley (20,406), Colfax (4,444), Nevada City (7,954) and Placerville (11,914).

PG&Es Sierra Division includes El Dorado, Nevada, Placer and Sierra counties. According to McFarland, 27,000 households have been affected in El Dorado County, 31,000 in Nevada County, 9,800 in Placer and 1,300 in Sierra counties.

This is an all hands on deck situation for PG&E. We are bringing in crews from other areas and working closely with first responders, including Caltrans, to gain access, McFarland said. Access is a major challenge as we are seeing lots of snow, downed trees and road closures, which can make it challenging to reach locations where we need to make repairs.

McFarland said the utility company is in the assessment phases of responding to the crisis, which includes gaining access to all the outages to see what went gone wrong and what kind of solutions are required.

Once our crews make initial contact I will be able to provide more information on estimated times of restoration, MacFarland said.We want customers to know that we are working around the clock to make assessments, make repairs and get the power back on.

MacFarland said with a storm this strong, customers should keep their eyes open for downed power lines.

If you see a line down, please assume its energized and stay away, MacFarland said. Please call 911 and PG&E so we can make the area safe.

Rebecca ONeil is a staff writer with The Union. She can be reached at roneil@theunion.com

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Snowed in: Authorities advise drivers to avoid the roads and stay home, if possible - The Union