Cleared for Early Departure

Due to a storm heading this way that is expected to start dropping snow on the Sierra this evening, I'm heading back to the Bay Area this afternoon, the better to not have to fight snow over Donner Summit.

No Snow, But Rain and Fog

It was a lovely winter day for a drive over Donner Summit — sunny with pretty snow-covered landscape and dry pavement. Indeed, I suspect it was a great day for skiing as well, with the weather warmer at Truckee than it was at Fernley when I left at 1 PM today. But when I got to Sacramento, I met the storm coming the other way and the rain was pretty hard most of the way back to San Jose, including fog over Altamont Pass which presumably contributed to the accident going the other way. (Slow down in the fog, folks!) I got rather lucky in that the rain let off while I was unloading the van. I clearly made the right choice to drive back today instead of tomorrow, however, as I expect the storm I hit today will be the cause of snow in the mountains tomorrow.