Northern California's Winter Woes: Snow-Bound Interstates and Uncertain Storms
The region's winter storm warning persists until Thursday evening, according to the National Weather Service's Sacramento office. The storm's impact is severe, with whiteout conditions causing the California Department of Transportation to shut down Interstate 80 in both directions from Colfax to the Nevada state line. The California Highway Patrol also announced the closure of Highway 50 and Highway 88 due to the storm, with Highway 50 closed from Point View Drive in Placerville to Meyers in El Dorado County due to spinouts. State Route 88 was closed from Dew Drop in Amador County to five miles west of Picketts Junction in Alpine County.
As of 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, there's no estimated time for the closures to lift. The storm's intensity is expected to peak Wednesday night through Thursday morning, with heavy snow forecast to taper off Tuesday evening before returning Wednesday morning. After a brief respite, rain and heavy snowfall are anticipated to resume Saturday night, with the snow level potentially reaching as low as 1,000 feet of elevation. This could impact cities like Auburn and Cameron Park, which sit at around 1,200 feet of elevation, but the exact snow-covered areas remain uncertain.
This story was originally published on February 17, 2026, at 5:26 PM, by Camila Pedrosa, a service journalism reporter at The Sacramento Bee. Pedrosa, a graduate of Arizona State University with a master's degree in mass communication, has previously worked as a summer reporting intern for The Bee and reported in Phoenix and Washington, D.C. Lauren Chapman, The Sacramento Bee's service journalism editor, based in Sacramento, rejoined The Bee in 2025 after first interning in 2014. She spent the last decade covering state government in Indiana, earning national recognition for her civic literacy resources and tools.
