SNOW DAY! Carson City takes a day off

Carson City would have to wait until this weekend to catch a break from the winter weather.

Since Thursday night, the city has been hit with two to five inches of snow, and even more in some of the hillier areas of the community, according to the National Weather Service Reno. And meteorologist Zach Tolby said Carson and Reno were in for a second wave of weather Friday night.

By Saturday morning, Carson locals could expect to wake up to another couple of inches.

The region saw snow accumulating between 2 to 4 feet by Friday morning with an expected additional 8 to 14 inches by Saturday morning. Tolby said at lake level, a foot and a half was recorded.

“We do get big storms at this time of year,” Tolby said. “It is definitely on the strong side, but nothing record-breaking.”

The weather is supposed to start to break Saturday morning and everything should be cleared up by Sunday, Tolby said. Temperatures will warm Sunday and Monday, from the mid-30s to mid-40s.

Then Northern Nevada will see a break in the weather early next week, before another potential storm rolls in at the end of the week.

“We will have a decent break but the weather will stay active,” Tolby said.

But, Friday, Carson residents got the opportunity to enjoy the snow day, as all schools and state offices closed because of the weather.

“We felt to error on the side of caution and safety in our decision to close all school sites today,” said Superintendent Richard Stokes.

The district said several factors played into their decision including total and predicted accumulation, ice, road accessibility, and the possibility of blizzard conditions.

But the snowy conditions didn’t stop everyone from going outside. Many students and families spent their days outside building snowmen, competing in snowball fights and enjoying the comforts of a day off.

For some, Friday marked their first experience with snow.

Ten-month-old Harper Witter wasn’t one who enjoyed her first snow. Her father, Scott, took her outside to touch the cold, wet snow and she wasn’t a fan of it.

“She wanted to touch it but she shook it off her hand, I think once the cold hit, she didn’t like it,” said her mother, Heather Gray. “She just touched it at first, and then she ran her hand through it but once the cold hit she was over it.”

Gray said the reaction was hilarious.

“At first it was shock then almost a look of disgust,” Gray laughed. “I hate being cold so I couldn’t wait to see her reaction. It made me laugh but she clearly feels the same way I do about the cold.”

Overall, it was a good day for most, even the Sheriff’s Office reported only a small number of crashes due to the weather throughout the morning and early afternoon. While most of the crashes were fender benders, only one significant crash occurred Friday afternoon.

Assistant Sheriff Jerome Tushbant said the first was a suspected DUI crash at College Parkway and Retail, which led to the second crash due to the confusion of road closures with the DUI. The person in the second crash was transported to the hospital with complaints of pain and the first driver was taken into custody.

“Because the governor declared it a snow day there were less people on the road so that helped (reduce the crashes),” said Sheriff Ken Furlong. “It wasn’t anything today we couldn’t handle.”

Driving at elevation wasn’t so easy as numerous crashes, spinouts and road closures kept law enforcement and road crews busy.

By mid-day four feet already has fallen at Mammoth Mountain. A 146 mph gust of wind was recorded Thursday night atop Squaw Valley resort on the north end of Lake Tahoe, with a gust of 137 mph at neighboring Alpine Meadows.

Three feet of snow was measured at the Kirkwood resort south of Lake Tahoe and at the Mount Rose ski resort on the southwest edge of Reno.

Up to 6 inches of snow fell in the Reno area, which remains under a winter weather advisory until 10 a.m. today. An 82 mph gust of wind was recorded Thursday on the west edge of Reno near Verdi.

Friday afternoon, a search and rescue team in the Sierra found the body of a snowboarder who went missing in a blizzard at a Lake Tahoe ski resort.

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office identified the victim Friday as 42-year-old Wenyu Zhang of Rocklin, Calif.

The sheriff’s office says his body was located by Squaw Valley Ski Patrol members after friends reported him missing late Thursday night.

The search was suspended overnight due to high avalanche danger in the mountains where 3 fee of snow has fallen and winds were gusting to nearly 150 mph.

His cause of death hasn’t been determined.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.