Storm brings snow, high winds

RENO " A winter storm brought snow and high winds to Northern Nevada Friday, shutting down some ski lifts and stalling traffic over mountain highways.

Chains were mandatory on some highways around Tahoe, including U.S. 50 over Echo Summit and sections of Highway 89 on Tahoe's west shore. Similar controls were lifted on Interstate 80 over Donner Summit early Friday.

In Carson City, wind gusts reached 52 mph in the morning, and .06 inch of rain fell as of early Friday evening, according to carsonweather.com.

National Weather Service forecaster Jane Hollingsworth of Reno said the fast-moving storm was expected to drop up to 8 inches of snow on the Sierra crest.

The storm produced wind gusts of up to 101 mph on the Sierra crest and 69 mph in the Reno area.

The high winds caused some Tahoe ski resorts, including Alpine Meadows and Heavenly, to shut down some lifts.

The storm also was blamed for many mostly minor traffic accidents, including a multiple-vehicle accident over Kingsbury Grade in Douglas County.

The Nevada Highway Patrol says high winds toppled a big truck rig Friday morning on U.S. 395 north of Reno and shut down the highway for about two hours.