Snow snarls Interstate 80

Heavy snow snarled Interstate 80 traffic on Monday, while over 190 Caltrans employees struggled to keep traffic crawling over Donner Pass.

“It’s been slow going and it’s only going to get worse,” Shelly Chernicki, Caltrans spokeswoman, said Monday afternoon.

Thick snow and 40 mph winds caused intermittent whiteouts along the interstate. Traffic was held at times at the Nevada state line, Truckee and the Donner Lake Interchange to keep the only major route over the Sierra from backing up, she said.

“Slow is good in this case,” Chernicki said.

The forecast was calling for two more feet of snow over Donner Pass Monday night, with a clearing on Tuesday, before another storm on Wednesday evening, Chernicki said.

No major accidents were reported on Interstate 80, highway 89 or highway 267, but numerous cars spun out on the slick roads.

At 4:15 p.m. on Monday, Caltrans began stopping traffic both ways over the Summit because of the whiteout conditions..

Local ski resorts were ecstatic over the new storm after a sparse snowcap to start off the winter.

“It’s a good old fashioned blizzard!” Mount Rose-Ski Tahoe resort exclaimed on its Web site Monday.

Spokesman Murky Blarney said the resort southwest of Reno has received 2 to 3 feet since the snow began falling over the weekend.

“It’s pretty much been continuous from Saturday night,” he said.

A winter storm warning remained in effect for the Lake Tahoe region through Tuesday morning.