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A powerful winter storm knocked out power to tens of thousands of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. customers Friday night in the Bay Area, according to the utility.
As of 9 p.m., 35,012 customers were impacted, PG&E spokesperson James Guidi said in an email. The vast majority — 26,035 — were in the North Bay, followed by 4,413 in the East Bay, 3,797 on the Peninsula, 574 in the South Bay and 193 in San Francisco.
The total number of customers without power in PG&E’s coverage area had fallen to roughly 26,500 as of about 10:25 p.m., according to the utility’s outage website.
The storm also caused chaos in the Sierra Nevada.
Following multiple spinouts Friday night, Interstate 80 was closed between Drum Forebay and the Nevada state line, according to Caltrans District 3. There was no estimated time to reopen the highway.
Strong winds, low visibility and dangerous conditions also spurred 11 of the 15 largest ski resorts in the Lake Tahoe area to take the unusual step of shutting down. Such closures only happen once or twice every few years, usually because winds make ski lifts unsafe to operate.
“Our team gave it their all, the weather won in the end,” officials at Sugar Bowl resort posted on their website.
Other closed resorts included Palisades, Alpine, Kirkwood, Homewood, Boreal, Sugar Bowl, Mt. Rose, Donner Ski Ranch and Sierra-at-Tahoe. Heavenly was open, but its gondola was closed. Northstar had only 5 of 19 lifts open Friday afternoon.
Snowfall amounts on Friday night and Saturday morning were expected to exceed the 1 to 2 feet that fell Thursday night in the Sierra Nevada. A blizzard warning remained in effect until 10 a.m. Sunday, with another 3 to 7 feet of snow expected by Monday, according to the National Weather Service forecast office in Sacramento.
Back in the Bay Area, 24-hour precipitation totals as of 4:30 p.m. Friday included .61 inches in Santa Rosa, .59 inches in Half Moon Bay, .40 inches in Livermore and .22 inches in San Jose.
The NWS forecast office in Monterey issued a number of special weather statements Friday night. Hail and winds up to 40 mph were expected across a wide swath of the region. Flood advisories were also issued for the East Bay, Peninsula and South Bay.
Staff writers Paul Rogers and Ethan Baron and staff photographer Jane Tyska contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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