Blast of snow brings winter back to Carson Valley

A sudden blast of cold weather brought 2 inches of snow to Genoa and snarled traffic over Kingsbury.

Douglas County deputies and Nevada Highway Patrol troopers responded to Kingsbury Grade and Hall Court for a Ford Bronco that spun out and ended up pointing the wrong way around 4:10 p.m.

As many as four vehicles at a time were stuck on the Grade as traffic cameras showed white-out conditions.

For most of Tuesday afternoon high winds hammered Carson Valley, knocking down branches and causing power outages.

Then right around 3 p.m. the wind turned to rain and then to light snow before turning to heavy snow around 4:15 p.m.

Minden-Tahoe Airport’s automated weather system show visibility dropping down to below a quarter mile around that time.

Between blasts of snow, the wind picked up.

As of 5:30 p.m., chains or snow tires were required over Kingsbury and on Highway 50 to the state line.

By 5:30 p.m. most of the power outages had been resolved, with only three Douglas County NV Energy customers without power.

Previous story: Nearly 3,000 Douglas County homes and businesses were without power this afternoon as a powerful windstorm arrived.

An electrical outage at Lake Tahoe affected 2,733 NV Energy customers, affecting traffic signals at Kahle Drive and Elks Point on Highway 50.

The Tahoe outage struck at 1:52 p.m., according to NVEnergy.com. Power was estimated to be restored by 3:45 p.m.

Tahoe Douglas firefighters and power company workers responde to a report of a tree limb striking a power line at Zephyr Cove Beach that was reportedly causing sparks to fly from a transformer.

Power company workers pulled the limb out of the line around 2:10 p.m. Firefighters said they expected power to be restored shortly.

A total of 175 customers lost power in Carson Valley between Minden and Gardnerville around 1:44 p.m.

Minden-Tahoe Airport reported a 53 mph wind gust at 1:15 p.m. and 33 mph gust at 1:55 p.m.

Skyland at Lake Tahoe reported a 36 mph gust at 1:14 p.m.

High winds are expected to continue through the day with a wind advisory expiring at 7 p.m.