NEVADA CITY, Calif. — In the wake of a formidable winter storm sweeping through Northern California, search and rescue teams have been mobilized to locate several backcountry skiers who are feared missing following an avalanche, authorities reported on Tuesday.
According to Ashley Quadros, a spokesperson for the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, a distress call was made to 911 around 11:30 a.m., alerting officials to an avalanche incident that had resulted in people being trapped beneath the snow.
Efforts to find the missing are being led by the sheriff’s office, along with their Search & Rescue team, and personnel from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The search is concentrated in the Castle Peak area, located northwest of Lake Tahoe, Quadros confirmed.
A statement on the sheriff’s office Facebook page noted, “A group of backcountry skiers appears to have been caught in the avalanche, with several members currently unaccounted for.”
An official from the Sierra Avalanche Center informed ABC News that the skiers, numbering over a dozen, were departing an overnight stay at Frog Lake Hut when the disaster struck.
At least ten skiers were impacted by the avalanche, though the extent of their burial, whether fully or partially, as well as any injuries, remains uncertain.
Officials say the group reported three members were actively working to dig out victims.
California is being walloped this week by a powerful winter storm carrying treacherous thunderstorms, high winds and heavy snow in mountain areas.
According to the Sierra Avalanche Center of the Tahoe National Forest based in Truckee, the area in the Central Sierra Nevada, including the Greater Lake Tahoe region, was facing high avalanche danger in the backcountry with large slides expected to occur Tuesday and into Wednesday.
The dangerous conditions were caused by rapidly accumulating snowfall piling on already fragile snowpack layers coupled with gale-force winds.
Several ski resorts around Lake Tahoe were fully or partially closed due to the extreme weather. The resorts along highways have avalanche mitigation programs and were not expected to be at as high of a risk as the backcountry where travel in, near, or below the avalanche terrain was strongly discouraged, the center said.
“It’s particularly dangerous in the backcountry right now just because we’re at the height of the storm,” said Brandon Schwartz, Tahoe National Forest lead avalanche forecaster at the center.
Experts rely on people who witness an avalanche or its aftermath to know when and where an avalanche has occurred, Schwartz said.
Castle Peak, a 9,110-foot (2,777-meter) peak in the Donner Summit area of the Sierra Nevada, is a popular backcountry skiing destination. In the nearby town of Soda Springs, at least 30 inches (76 centimeters) of snow had fallen in the last 24 hours, according to the Soda Springs Mountain Resort.
Forecasters said the western slope of the Sierra Nevada in northern Shasta County – including portions of Interstate 5 – and parts of the state’s Pacific Coast Range could see up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) of snow before the storm moves through late Wednesday.
RELATED: Snowmobiler dies after avalanche in California’s Sierra Nevada
The storm wreaked havoc on roadways spanning from Sonoma County to the Sierra Nevada. Traffic was halted temporarily in both directions on I-80 near the Nevada state line due to spinouts and crashes, the California Department of Transportation reported.
In January, an avalanche in the region buried a snowmobiler in snow and killed him, authorities said. Each winter, 25 to 30 people die in avalanches in the U.S., according to the National Avalanche Center.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
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