A powerful blizzard that a meteorologist termed “as bad as it gets” howled in the Sierra Nevada mountains, closing a long stretch of Interstate 80 in Northern California, forcing ski resorts to shut down, and leaving thousands of homes without power.

More than 10 feet (3 m.) of snow was expected at higher elevations Saturday, creating a “life-threatening concern” for residents near Lake Tahoe and blocking travel on the key east-west freeway.

National Weather Service meteorologist William Churchill said snow totals by late Sunday would range from five to 12 feet (1.5 to 3.6 m.), with the highest accumulations at elevations above 5,000 feet (1,500 m.). Lower elevations were inundated with heavy rain.

He called the storm an “extreme blizzard for the Sierra Nevada, in particular, as well as other portions of Nevada and even extending into Utah and portions of western Colorado.” But he said he didn’t expect records to be broken.

“It’s certainly just about as bad as it gets in terms of the snow totals and the winds,” Churchill said. “It doesn’t get much worse than that.”

A second, weaker storm was forecast to bring an additional one to two feet of snow in the region between Monday and Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service office.

Earlier, the weather service warned that blowing snow was creating “extremely dangerous to impossible” driving conditions, with wind gusts in the high mountains at more than 160 kph.

Avalanche danger was “high to extreme” in backcountry areas through Sunday evening throughout the central Sierra and greater Lake Tahoe area, the weather service said.

California authorities on Friday shut down 160 km of I-80, the main route between Reno and Sacramento, because of “spin outs, high winds, and low visibility.” There was no estimate when the freeway would reopen from the California-Nevada border west of Reno to near Emigrant Gap, Ca.

Thousands of homes and businesses in both states suffered power outages and a tornado was registered Friday afternoon in Madera County, Ca.

Some ski lovers raced up to the mountains ahead of the storm, though many ski resorts shut down Friday and were digging out Saturday with an eye toward reopening Sunday. Palisades Tahoe, the largest resort on the north end of Tahoe and site of the 1960 Winter Olympics, closed all chairlifts Saturday because of snow, wind and low visibility.

Yosemite National Park was also closed through Sunday.