RUNNING SPRINGS, Calif. -- Beleaguered Californians weathered yet another storm Tuesday, as blizzard warnings blanketed the Sierra Nevada range in the northern half of the state, more snow was on its way to the southern mountains like the San Bernardino range, and forecasters warned that any travel was dangerous.
On the eastern flank of the Sierra, the Mono County sheriff's office bluntly tweeted: "The roads are closed. All of them. There is no alternate route, back way, or secret route. It's a blizzard, people."
San Bernardino County has declared a state of emergency, with mountain residents trapped in their homes and motorists stranded. More snow was expected in many communities where residents, unable to drive through deep snow on roads that were closed anyway, largely got around on foot.
The latest storm in California was one of two bookending the country, with snow closing or delaying the opening for hundreds of schools in the Northeast, which saw the most significant snowfall Tuesday of what has been a mild winter.
Michigan again fought a battle with ice after a storm Monday left thousands of customers without power in the central part of the state. To the southeast, around Detroit, some customers still lacked power for a sixth day after a prior storm.
The storms have delayed travel, shuttered schools and overwhelmed crews trying to dig out of the snow and repair downed power lines. Nationwide, there were about 500 commercial flight cancellations and more than 2,000 delays Tuesday, according to FlightAware.com.
In the West, the weather was expected to last into today, with winter storm warnings stretching from the Oregon coast to many of Southern California's already snow-laden mountains.
In the San Bernardino mountain community of Running Springs, the town is covered in snow with some mounds piling more than six feet high. Some residents walked to a grocery store to stock up on food and carried back the bags atop a plastic sled.
In nearby Crestline, authorities were escorting two full grocery trucks up to the mountain community, Michael Johnstone said -- just in time for the new storm to add as much as a foot of snow.
With five feet of snow on the ground, Johnstone said many of the store's employees can't make it to work, so he has been using a plow truck to shuttle them to and from work for limited hours. Most customers are coming in on foot.
For California's skiers and snowboarders, the parade of storms was too much of a good thing. Most resorts around Lake Tahoe suspended operations Tuesday. Big Bear Mountain Resort opened, but all roads leading there remained closed.
Mount Baldy Resort on the peak that looms over greater Los Angeles opened but also anticipated an early closure. But California's Sierra snowpack, which provides about one-third of the state's water supply, continued to benefit from the back-to-back dumps of heavy snowfall.
The water content of the snowpack Tuesday -- in a state grappling with years of drought -- was 186% of normal to date and 162% of the average April 1, when it is historically at its peak, according to the state Department of Water Resources' online data.
In the Northeast, parts of Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island had heavy snow forecast through Tuesday afternoon. Some areas of western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut were left with about seven inches of snow.
Two to 5 inches of snow fell across New York City, depending on the borough. The Albany, N.Y., area saw less snow than expected -- two to five inches -- but enough to close schools.
Information for this article was contributed by David Sharp, Dave Collins, Julie Walker, John Antczak and staff members of The Associated Press.
Snow is piled up on a home in Running Springs, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. Beleaguered Californians got hit again Tuesday as a new winter storm moved into the already drenched and snow-plastered state, with blizzard warnings blanketing the Sierra Nevada and forecasters warning residents that any travel was dangerous. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)