The Grass Valley area measured seven-tenths of an inch of rain following Thursday’s passing storm system, which also brought a dusting of snow down to about 3,000 feet of elevation.

A Caltrans tire chain or 4-wheel-drive with snow tire checkpoint was temporarily established along Highway 20, just east of Nevada City until the storm cleared.

The next few days are expected to remain relatively dry but brisk, with highs in the low 50s and overnight lows in the upper 30s and lower 40s before giving way to a significant winter storm system later Saturday night.

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“Right now we’re still on track and expecting this to be a pretty significant storm,” National Weather Service Meteorologist Hannah Chandler-Cooley said.

“We are still forecasting multiple feet of snow for the Sierra, anywhere from 2 to 5 feet. Above 6,000 feet can see some local area accumulation of 6 to 9 feet.”

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The resulting storm has prompted the weather service to warn of dangerous mountain travel with the possibility of highway road closures due to dangerous conditions.

“This storm is looking like it will last through Tuesday, the heaviest precipitation will likely be Sunday and Monday with still some snow falling through Tuesday and probably some lighter showers into Wednesday,” Chandler-Cooley added.

LOW SNOW

Low snow levels could come down as low as 2,000 feet during the latter part of the storm, later in the day on Tuesday.

“It does look like that time frame late in the day on Tuesday when those snow levels will start dropping,” Chandler-Cooley said. “It will be after that main push of precipitation but there still may be some lighter amounts at those elevations.”

Five to 7.5 inches of precipitation are forecast for the Grass Valley region Saturday night through Tuesday.

To contact Multimedia Reporter Elias Funez email efunez@theunion.com, or call 530-477-4230