Parts of the Sierra could receive 10 feet of snow this weekend. Dan DePodwin, AccuWeather's Snow Expert, shares home and health safety tips in preparation for the storm.
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00:00 Here's the big story, the mountain snow and again 2 to 4 inch per hour snowfall rates.
00:07 We're talking up at 10 feet at Donner Summit, 2 to 4 feet I-5 in northern Shaska County,
00:13 Siskiyou County in northern California, towards Siskiyou Summit in southern Oregon.
00:18 That mountain, or that pass is going to be closed as well along with Donner Pass and
00:22 this is going to be as extreme as it gets in the Sierra with any storm.
00:28 Joining me right now is AccuWeather snow expert Dan DiPadua.
00:32 You know Dan, the question, if you live in these areas, if you live anywhere up above
00:38 4,000 feet in the Sierra or any of these mountains, the question is what can I do to protect myself?
00:45 That's what you need to be thinking.
00:46 Absolutely Bernie.
00:47 It's going to be a dangerous situation as you mentioned.
00:49 Today is the day to prepare here on Thursday before it gets really, the weather goes downhill
00:53 on Friday and on Saturday.
00:56 In terms of what to do to prepare, there's a lot of different safety tips for winter
01:00 storms and it depends if you're obviously inside or outside.
01:03 Before the snow begins, and this is again the day to do that, make sure you have all
01:05 your different supplies and go grocery shopping for your non-perishable items.
01:09 Then as the snow begins and as the snow accumulates in feet upon the roofs, obviously sometimes
01:14 it's necessary to remove snow from the roof, but if you do that, make sure you do so safely,
01:18 so not using a ladder for instance to do that.
01:21 Also making sure that you charge your devices beforehand because there can be power outages
01:25 due to the amount of snow.
01:26 Most power outages can last for several days at least and it may be also a situation where
01:32 you may not be able to leave your house for at least several days.
01:34 In many cases it could be several days to even a week because of the fact you have feet
01:38 of snow.
01:39 Again, this is above about 5,000 feet in elevation.
01:42 If you're going to use a generator, make sure you use it in a well-ventilated area to not
01:46 have any of those fumes inside of your house.
01:48 You know Dan, let's talk about that.
01:50 You don't think about this, but the weight of this snow can really be dangerous as it
01:55 continues to pile up.
01:57 Absolutely.
01:58 The snow weight is something to certainly keep in mind.
02:03 It can be really thousands of pounds on your roof and that can unfortunately lead to roof
02:09 collapses in some cases, which is why it's important to remove that snow from your roof
02:14 in those situations.
02:15 Yeah, and you can see four feet adds almost 34,000 pounds and that's the concern we have
02:24 Dan.
02:25 And of course, you know, being out, you don't want to get caught out in outdoors at all
02:31 with this storm because then we have the problems with hypothermia.
02:36 Yeah, the hypothermia risk is certainly significant.
02:40 Also frostbite too.
02:41 So just covering up your hands and your head with a hat and gloves.
02:46 And obviously if you are outside for a long period of time, these are some of the different
02:50 symptoms to be cognizant for if you're out caught in the cold for a long period of time.
02:54 All right, Accuweather snow expert Dan DiPondre.
02:57 Dan, thanks for joining us.
02:59 And as Dan mentioned, be prepared, not scared, but make sure you're prepared for this storm.
03:04 A lot of snow's coming.