SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An unusually cold front from the Gulf of Alaska interrupted summer along the West Coast on Saturday, bringing snow to mountains in California and the Pacific Northwest and closing parts of highways through national parks.
A portion of Highway 89 through Lassen Volcanic National Park in California was closed after an estimated 3 inches of snow fell overnight, according to the National Weather Service.
Photos posted by the agency and local authorities showed the heights of Mount Rainier in Washington state blanketed in white and a dusting of snow at Minaret Vista, a lookout point southeast of Yosemite National Park in California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range.
Madera County Undersheriff Larry Rich said snow falling on Minaret Vista in August was “totally unexpected.”
“It’s not often that you get to spend your birthday surrounded by a winter wonderland in the middle of summer,” he said in a statement. “It was an unforgettable day and a special reminder of why I love serving this community. It’s one of those moments that makes working here feel so special.”
Rain fell in northern Nevada just before the annual Burning Man festival was to begin, forcing organizers to close the gates for much of Saturday before reopening them.
Last year’s festival was canceled due to heavy rain, and the festival site and temporary town turned into a quagmire.
Snow also fell overnight at Mammoth Mountain, a ski resort in California, and the National Weather Service warned hikers and campers to prepare for slippery surfaces.
Record rainfall was expected in Northern California on Saturday in Redding, Red Bluff and Stockton, with rain expected to continue into the evening south of Lake Oroville, the weather service said.
Snow fell overnight near Tioga Pass, in the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, the National Weather Service said, and forecasters said it was the first time it had snowed in August since 2003.
Tioga Pass is over 9,900 feet above sea level and serves as the eastern entrance to Yosemite, but is closed most of the year due to heavy winter snowfall that can take one to two months to melt.
Though the start of ski season is still at least a few months away, a hint of winter is being welcomed in resort areas.
“Palisades Tahoe is experiencing cool, breezy August weather as a storm approaches this afternoon that could bring the first snowfall of the season!,” the resort said in a social media post on Friday.
The “exceptionally cold conditions” will spread across much of the western U.S. by Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.
Despite the expected rainfall, forecasters also warned of increased fire danger from gusty winds as a cold front passes through.
At the same time, a flash flood watch was issued for Friday morning into Saturday morning for areas burned by California’s largest wildfire so far this year.
The Park Fire began in late July near the Central Valley city of Chico and spread up the western slope of the Sierra Mountains, covering more than 671 square miles.
The fire, the fourth largest on record in California, has recently been significantly contained, and evacuation orders have been lifted, although islands of vegetation continue to burn within the fire’s boundaries.
The state’s wildfire season got off to a fiery start in scorching hot July as blazes ate away at the dry vegetation that had grown during two consecutive wet years. Fire activity has calmed down recently.
Forecasters predict that summer heat will return quickly once the cold front passes.
