Rare California winter weather advisory warns people about travel

California residents will again face a rare snow event as an approaching storm is expected to drop several inches of snow across the Hanford forecast region through Thursday night, making for hazardous travel in the area.

National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists issued a winter weather advisory in the early hours of Wednesday morning, warning of an early-season winter snowstorm that could bring as much as 5 inches of snow to three national parks and several California cities. “Snow expected. Total snow accumulations of 2 to 5 inches,” the advisory said.

The storm follows another cold, precipitation-laden event that brought snowfall amounts ranging from a half-inch to 2 inches in Yosemite National Park on Monday evening, an occurrence that hasn’t happened in September for at least 20 years, according to area records.

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Elevations above 9,000 feet are most likely to see snowfall, including Yosemite National Park, Kings Canyon National Park, Sequoia National Park and the upper San Joaquin River, and the cities of Tuolumne Meadows, Wawona, Devils Postpile, Florence Lake, Lake Thomas Edison, Cedar Grove, Giant Forest and Lodgepole.

NWS meteorologist Antoinette Serrato told Newsweek that the system was a “bit early” for the season, and that typically the area begins to see snow in October.

The storm is expected to bring hazardous impacts to local roads. Serrato warned of slippery conditions and said drivers should expect delays. Some roads also might close.

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“Travel could be very difficult due to snow covered roads,” the advisory said. “Stronger showers and thunderstorms could briefly lower snow levels to around 8,000 to 8,500 feet at times. Slow down and use caution while traveling.”

Lower elevations are expecting rain, the NWS forecast said.

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NWS lead forecaster Andy Bollenbacher previously told Newsweek that several inches of snow during this time of year is a rare event. Several snow events have threatened parts of California already this year, even in the middle of summer. In August, a dusting of snow fell in high-elevation areas in the Sierra Nevada mountains. However, the snow didn’t stick.

The threat of snow comes as temperatures for the region dropped as much as 20 degrees below normal earlier this week. According to a post on X, formerly Twitter, by the NWS office in Hanford, the city of Merced “tied a record low maximum temperature of 73 degrees, with the previous record set for this date in 1908.”

“Temperatures are expected below average through Friday,” the post said.

However, a six- to 10-day temperature outlook published by the NWS Climate Prediction Center shows that all of California has a chance to experience above-average temperatures from September 23 to 27.