A snowfall record dating back to 1970 could be broken this week in the Sierra Nevada.
155 inches of snow has fallen in the past month and it's still coming. All the snow is great for California water resources, but it's wreaking havoc in the region, officials warn.
"Our snowiest December was in 1970 and that was at 179 inches, so we're only 24 inches away from the record," Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist and station manager at the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab, told KCBS Radio.
Schwartz believes that record will be easily broken by the end of this week.
Up until one month ago, climatologists were predicting a second La Nina year, meaning a drier than normal season, but Schwartz said there have been exceptions. "We have had big second La Nina years up here in the mountains with snow and it just so happens that it's looking like this year may be one of those."
January and February are typically the wettest months of the year, so there is the potential for even more snowfall. "It will stay snowy through today and tomorrow with realistically another three to four feet coming in basically through late Monday night into early Tuesday morning," he forecasted.
The National Weather Service, California Highway Patrol and Caltrans are encouraging people not to head to the Sierra until the storms have cleared. Conditions have become dangerous as travelers fight to drive through white out snow storms without injury.
A 20-vehicle pile up was reported in Nevada Sunday morning and a CHP car was severely rear-ended while an officer attempted to help a stranded motorist. The driver that hit the CHP vehicle was taken to the hospital, but the officer was uninjured, officials said.
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