Snowiest day of winter season happens in May

TRUCKEE, Calif. (AP) - A weekend spring storm that drenched the San Francisco Bay Area and closed Northern California mountain highways also set a single-day snowfall record for the season on Sunday in the Sierra Nevada.

The snowiest day for the 2023-24 winter season didn't occur in winter, according to the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab. Instead, it happened in the latter half of spring, with May 5 seeing the snowiest day. 

The wet weather system had mostly moved out of the state by Sunday morning, but officials warned that roads would remain slick after around two feet (60 centimeters) of snow fell in some areas of the Sierra.

Officials at the snow lab say a storm on May 5 dropped at least 26.4 inches of snow, beating second-place March 3 by 2.6 inches.

Treacherous driving conditions on Saturday forced the closure of several highways near Lake Tahoe, including Interstate 80 over the Donner Summit.

Flood advisories were issued for parts of the Bay Area, where up to an inch (2.5 centimeters) of rain fell while temperatures dipped into the low 40s (around 5 degrees Celsius), the National Weather Service said. Wind gusts reaching 40 mph (64 kph) were reported Saturday near San Francisco.

The storm brought light rain and gusty winds to Southern California.

Drier and warmer conditions were expected throughout the week.

Officials call it a "nice change of pace to an over-performing storm for the season."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.