Snow closes major California highway for hours

Police began escorting southbound cars through the Grapevine section of Interstate 5 – a major north-south highway – after a 16-hour shutdown.

The highway through Tejon Pass – just 75 miles northwest of Los Angeles – rises to 4,100 feet in the Tehachapi Mountains and frequently is shut down in winter by blowing snow and treacherous black ice on the roadway.

“There must have been 1,000 Mack trucks lined up,” Heidi Blood, 40, said early Friday.

In addition to the snow, morning temperatures fell into the 20s and 30s in many areas, and much lower in the mountains. Big Bear mountain resort east of Los Angeles recorded a low of 12 degrees F.

Napa, in the wine country, and Sacramento, farther north, both recorded 27.

See entire article:

http://news.yahoo.com/snow-shuts-major-calif-highway-hours-154957164.html

Thanks to Robert Stom for this link