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Comment by froofiethedog | Hacker News Reader

Thanks. I see now that the Central Valley (Sacramento area) is expecting flooding through Thursday.

Not sure how to avoid freeways in California, though... Should I be looking at a trip to Nevada to avoid this?

Mountain passes across Sierra will be closed, so you can't travel to Reno, as I-80, SR-50 (Sacramento to south lake Tahoe), SR-88 (Carson Pass) will be closed. Even Altamont pass/I-580 had a slide a few days ago. SR-99 will get flooded, as it is parallel to I-5 from Sacramento to Bakersfield. So, expect long delays on both I-5 and I-80, since other secondary roads get flooded.

If you are planning to Vegas, you gonna have problems on SR-152/I-580 to I-5. Also, expect problems on SR-58 between Bakersfield and Barstow on I-15. Even if you want to go to Sacramento, expect long delays on all routes.

Whichever freeway you pick, you will have problems: bad visibility, very slow traffic, partial closures due to puddles, complete closures due to floods (like the north of SFO airport last time).

That's why CHP, Caltrans, NWS advise people to postpone their travel unless extremely necessary. No storm tourism either.

Carson and the other smaller passes close in the winter and open sometime in spring. This happens all the time.

I suspect 80 will be closed maybe overnight because way too many people think driving in snow is just like a dry road - spin outs and crashes (even semis). In general CalTrans does a good job keeping it mostly open.

For context - I live north of Truckee and deal with 80 regularly.

Carson pass (88) is plowed and stays open all winter. It's the road to Kirkwood and connects to South Lake Tahoe via 89. Agree all the other smaller Sierra passes are closed after first significant snowfall.

Storm tourism —- another name for skiing!

"storm tourism" -- that's not really a thing here, unless you mean skiing (which is usually impossible to get to, for all the reasons you listed).

It's probably time to hunker down Weds/Thurs if you're in California.

Also, a lot of the small mountain roads between 1 and 280/101 washed out in the New Years Eve storm, so if you are stuck on the coast there's no guarantee you'll be able to get inland.

A bunch of the fairly major urban (what passes for urban here, anyway) roads were in bad shape on NYE. 101 had partial and complete closures in places due to flooding. Sections of road that are local elevation minima (e.g. under the Caltrain tracks) were just standing water anywhere that drains weren’t working well enough.

I would not try to travel.

It's not just drains in those underpasses. Some have active pumps that need to be working.

It's no fun to drive in the rain, so either pick a nice place to stay for Wed/Thu during the storm, or postpone the trip. If you need to get south, just drive the 5, it shouldn't enough rain to flood it. The central valley flood alerts you are seeing are for rivers and small roads with stream crossings. Forecast there is only 1.5".

Parts of 99 were closed (with at least one fatality) and I-5 threatend by the flooding this weekend; the next storm is bigger and will hit ground that is already saturated. The flood watch issued in the Valley for the upcoming storm is not just for rivers and small roads with stream crossings as you describe.

> Forecast there is only 1.5".

The Centrall Valley forecast for the storm is 2-3”, actually, per NWS Sacramento.

> just drive the 5

until you get to the Grapevine. Then cross your fingers.

Just drove the Grapevine yesterday with no issues even after all the recent rain. Is this storm going to affect the LA area as well?

In the past there's been major snow. I haven't checked the weather this time.

Thanks for all the replies. The trick is: I'm halfway through my trip right now. So I think my choices are 1) stay where I am until Friday, or 2) back-track to Oregon and head for I-15. Seems like staying here is my best bet. But I guess I won't be at work on Monday...

Looks like things will be getting ugly Wednesday afternoon.

How about hitting the road before that to be ahead of the mess?

Monterey and Big Sur are great, but just getting home seems like a better idea.

Even if you can't leave Tuesday, you did say you had planned for Monterey on Wed. So leave early Wed, cruise down I-5 and you'll be at the grapevine with time to spare.

If "I-15" is shorthand for "395 to I-15", I would recommend against it. Cold snow after wet snow is a manor avalanche condition. It would be unlikely to hit you of course, but the roads may become impassable in ways that are far worse than I-5.

Stay safe. Leave early.

Forecast for the Bay Area & Monterey has the storm starting to roll in at midnight tonight, so there's relatively little time to get out if you're planning a long road trip out of the storm's influence. Unless OP is hitting the road right about now I would recommend staying put.

Maybe US 395 will be fine, since the Sierras should take all the snow.

If so, it's a phenomenally scenic route. It might lead to nowhere this week though...

I’d hunker down and try to enjoy where you are.

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