Winter Blast Makes For Traffic Mess Over Mountain, Low Snow in Auburn

AUBURN (CBS13) — A winter blast blowing through the valley and the mountains left freezing conditions and some snow from as high as the Sierra summit to as low as Auburn. It also made for a mess on mountain roadways.

Drivers faced brake lights and a long back up on Interstate 80. The mountain corridor was crammed with cars going nowhere.

Gyanit Singh got caught in the middle of it heading west from Lake Tahoe to Fremont. Traffic was at a standstill.

"Almost two hours long," Singh said.

This snow storm left some drivers stuck and others sliding on a collision course. The California Highway Patrol Truckee office posted photos of just some of the spinouts that led to crashes.

Down the mountain, Blair Miller lives in Auburn and descibed the low snow.

"It's definitely not light and fluffy. It's more like a corn snow right now," Miller said. "More like a corn kernal instead of a flake of snow."

The snow hit Auburn streets, surprising drivers and making for slow going.

"I think it's crazy, this is just crazy it's so cold out," one driver told GoodDay Sacramento's Dave Grashoff.

"Are you safe," Grashoff asked.

"No, I don't feel safe, my tires are spinning," she said.

The first burst of snow came just after noon. People who had parked their cars beforehand returned to find a snowy coating.

"It's just been really fun, we had a really dry winter so it was fun to be able to make snowballs with the girls," Auburn's Alison King said.

This cold blast from the foothills to the mountains created a winter-like wild ride.

"It was quite an experience," Singh said. "We got scared, it was like filled with all the emotions."