CA Storms Leave Residents Snowed In, As More Extreme Weather Comes

CALIFORNIA — Widespread freezing conditions took hold of California on Wednesday as skies finally began to clear in the north and clouds moved south in the state. This comes just after blizzard warnings were issued overnight in parts of Northern California, while major highways faced closures or restrictions. Authorities even warned of high avalanche danger at all given elevations. (Scroll down to view images of the recent storm aftermath across California.)

And harsh winter weather across California has left the state’s residents stranded amid feet of snow and dealing with damaged homes hit by downed trees, according to reports.

More cold temperatures, biting winds and snow are in the upcoming forecast.

Snow showers are expected into Wednesday night at foothill elevations in the Los Angeles area, according to the National Weather Service, which noted the Interstate 5 corridor was expected to be affected.

“Snow levels will lower rapidly this morning, down to between 1500 and 2500 feet as the colder air with the storm punches into the region,” according to the weather service, which cited winter storm warnings in effect for all or part of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Bay Area residents should brace for cold as well, according to the weather service.

“Today's the first day of meteorological spring ... but you wouldn't know it from the morning lows these next couple of days,” the weather service tweeted. “Widespread lows at or below freezing are expected inland today and tomorrow.”

Jennifer Cobb and her husband planned on staying four days in their vacation rental in the San Bernardino Mountains. But that stretched into a week as they were trapped by a relentless series of storms that has piled snow so high they can barely see out the windows.

When they try to shovel themselves out, it just snows again. They're thinking of walking to a main road to see if they can hitch a ride down the mountain so they can get home to their teenage daughter and Cobb's elderly father in San Diego County.

"We hear the phantom sounds of plows, but they never come," said Cobb, 49. "Being stuck up here in this beautiful place shouldn't be awful, but it is.”

Cobb and other beleaguered Californians weathered yet another storm Tuesday, as blizzard warnings blanketed the Sierra Nevada range in the northern half of the state, more snow was on its way to the southern mountains like the San Bernardino range, and forecasters warned that any travel was dangerous.

San Bernardino County has declared a state of emergency, with mountain residents trapped in their homes and motorists stranded. More snow was expected in many communities where residents, unable to drive through deep snow on roads that were closed anyway, largely got around on foot.

The turbulent weather has downed trees across the Bay Area, in some cases damaging homes, according to KGO.

"Next thing we know, the whole house is shaking and a big ole boom," Nathan Shumate, of Forestville, told KGO.

A tree fell on Shumate’s home while he and his wife were inside, according to KGO.

"Very scary! One of the branches came through our living room, came through our ceiling, one is laying over the hood of our car," Shumate told the station.

A home was also struck by a tree in Santa Rosa, while several downed trees blocked roads in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where drivers were also disrupted by heavy rain, according to KGO.

Further south, in the San Bernardino mountain community of Running Springs, the town is covered in snow with some mounds piling more than 6 feet. Some residents walked to a grocery store to stock up on food and carried back the bags atop a plastic sled.

In nearby Crestline, Michael Johnstone said his family's grocery store was running low on key inventory even though they stocked up before the storm. Authorities are escorting two full grocery trucks up to the mountain community, Johnstone said — just in time for the new storm to add as much as a foot of snow.

"We're completely out of bread. Milk is getting really light. We're almost completely out of produce," said Johnstone, of Goodwin and Sons Market. "Beer — domestic beer — is really, really low.”

Johnstone said many of the store's employees can't make it to work, so he has been using a plow truck to shuttle them to and from work for limited hours. Most customers are coming in on foot.

"There have been people posting online where they're running out of groceries because they live in a part of town that's too far to walk to the grocery store," said 60-year-old Christian Vinceneux. "We haven't had any snow plows … It's going to take a while before we can all get out.”

For California's skiers and snowboarders, the parade of storms was too much of a good thing. Most resorts around Lake Tahoe suspended operations Tuesday. Big Bear Mountain Resort opened, but all roads leading there were closed. Mount Baldy Resort on the massive peak that looms over greater Los Angeles opened but also anticipated an early closure.

Staggering snowfall totals have been reported this week. Mammoth Lakes, traditionally one of the snowiest places in California, had nearly 4 feet of snow over the past three days. The Mammoth Mountain ski resort has received 41.5 feet of snow since October and could be on a path to break the all-time snow season record of 55.7 feet set in 2010-11.

The University of California, Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Laboratory near Donner Pass reported that nearly 41.7 feet had fallen since October, more than in any snow year since 1970 and second only to the record of 66.7 feet in 1952.

California's Sierra snowpack, which provides about a third of the state's water supply, continued to benefit from the back-to-back dumps of heavy snowfall. The water content of the snowpack Tuesday — in a state grappling with years of drought — was 186 percent of normal to date and 162 percent of the average on April 1, when it is historically at its peak, according to the state Department of Water Resources' online data.

Check out the latest photos of what the last days of winter in California look like below:

The Associated Press contributed to this story.