Heat waves, wildfires and now … snow? California endures a summer of extremes

an unusually cold weather system from the Gulf of Alaska interrupted summer along the west coast on Saturday bringing snow to mountains in California and the Pacific Northwest and prompting the closure of part of a highway that runs through a national park parts of Highway 889 through Lassen Volcanic National Park in California were shut down after an estimated 3 in 7.6 cm of snow fell overnight according to the National Weather Service photos posted by the agency and local authorities showed a high elevation blanket of white on Mount Rainer in Washington along with a dusting of snow at minet Vista a Lookout Point southeast of Yos National Park in California's Sierra Nevada Madera County deputy sheriff Larry rich said it was definitely unexpected to see snow at minet Vista in August it's not every day you get to spend your birthday surrounded by a winter wonderland in the middle of summer he said in a statement it made for a day I won't soon forget and a unique reminder of why I love serving in this area it's just one of those moments that makes working up here so special in Northern Nevada rain fell in the runup to the annual Burning Man festival prompting organizers to close the entrance gate for most of Saturday before reopening torrential rains upended last year's Festival turning the celebration and its temporary City into a muddy Quagmire it also snowed overnight on Mammoth Mountain a ski destination in California with the National Weather Service warning hikers and campers to prepare for slick roads record rainfall moved through Reading Red Bluff and Stockton in Northern California on Saturday the Weather Service said and rain showers South of Lake Oroville were expected to continue into the evening a dusting of snow fell overnight on the crest of the Sierra Nevada around tyoga pass the Weather Service said a snow has not occurred there since 2003 forecasters said tyoga pass Rises to more than 99,900 ft 3,7 M and serves as the Eastern entryway to yosd but it is usually closed much of each year by winter snow that can take one or two months to clear while the start of ski season is at least several months away the hint of winter was welcomed by Resorts it's a cool and blustery August day here at Palisades Tahoe as a storm that could bring our first snowfall of the season moves in this afternoon the resort said in a social media post Friday the anomalous cool conditions will spread over much of the western Us by Sunday morning according to the National Weather Services weather prediction center in College Park Maryland despite the expected precipitation forecasters also warned of fire danger because of Gusty winds associated with the passage of the cold front at the same time a flash flood watch was issued for the burn scar of California's largest Wildfire so far this year from Friday morning through Saturday morning the park fire roared across more than 671 square miles 1,748 Square km after it erupted in Late July near the Central Valley City of Chico and climbed up the western slope of the Sierra the fire became California's fourth largest on record but it has been substantially tamed recently islands of vegetation continue to burn within its existing perimeter but evacuation orders have been canell the state's Wildfire season got off to an intense start amid extreme July heat blazes fed on dried out vegetation That Grew during back-to-back wet years fire activity has recently fallen into a relative lull forecasts call for a rapid return of summer heat as the cold front departs antac reported from Los Angeles Associated Press writer Morgan Lee in Santa Fe New Mexico contributed to this report