US storm: Massive blizzard hits California and Nevada

A weekend blizzard that battered parts of California and Nevada is expected to continue through to at least Tuesday, with more snow in the forecast.

The snowstorm has already closed major roads and ski resorts in the two states and thousands were without power.

It was especially severe in California's mountainous Sierra Nevada region, which saw wind gusts exceeding 180mph (289km/h).

Winter storm warnings were in effect in four states on Monday.

Those states were California, Oregon, Idaho and Colorado.

In the Sierra Nevada range, people were warned of a "high to extreme avalanche danger", including in the greater Lake Tahoe area. Some regions received over 8ft of snow over the course of the weekend storm, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center.

In northern Trinity County, California snow was expected until midday Tuesday, with between 4-14in of snow forecast.

Residents in the Sacramento area were warned that "travel could be very difficult to impossible" from Monday to Wednesday due to gusty winds, inches of snow and downed tree branches.

Trees fell across power lines along Highway 89 near Palisades Tahoe on Saturday, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Dozens of trucks were reported stranded as well as cars spinning out of control.

More than 7ft of snow fell in parts of the Tahoe Basin, and Tahoe City received more than four feet.

A 75-mile (121km) stretch of the Interstate 80 highway was closed on Saturday and Sunday, and parts remain closed on Monday morning. The California Highway Patrol Office in Truckee, close to the border with Nevada, said on X, formerly Twitter, that "emergency personnel and tow trucks had a difficult time getting to motorists due to blizzard conditions".

Later on Monday, Interstate 80 reopened, but with cars required to use tyre chains due to the icy conditions over Donner Pass.

At its peak overnight on Saturday to Sunday, a power cut map showed nearly 15,000 customers in California and more than 1,000 in Nevada were without electricity.

Much of the worst weather has hit communities living at higher elevations

The mountain areas were hardest hit by the storm.

Several ski resorts around the lake closed on Friday and remained shut on Saturday and Sunday.

"It's snowing pretty hard out there, really windy, and power is out to about half the town," Thomas Petkanas, a bartender at Alibi Ale Works in Incline Village, near Lake Tahoe, told the Associated Press news agency by phone.

"We're one of the few spots open today," he added.

Several major roads were closed due to the snow

California's Yosemite National Park was closed on Friday, and visitors were asked to leave by noon. It partially reopened on Sunday afternoon, with more sections reopening at noon on Monday as long as conditions permit, the park said in an update on Instagram.

Weather forecasters urged people to remain in place over the weekend, warning it could take significant time to dig commuters out of the snow if they got stuck in the storm.

Other parts of the US also continue to experience extreme weather.

Wildfires are raging in Texas, where firefighters are struggling to contain the massive blaze amid difficult weather conditions.