More cold and snow on the way

Schools closed, drivers derailed and power lines fell Monday as the North Coast was battered by storms that are expected to continue off and on through at least Wednesday.

“Anything above 1,000 feet is going to get snow,” said U.S. Weather Service meteorologist Mel Nordquist.

The bulk of Monday’s snow fell at higher elevations.

“We have snow all around here,” said John Markatos, superintendent of the Laytonville Unified School District in northern Mendocino County, where classes were canceled for the day. Leggett schools also were reported closed.

Staying home may not have been much of a reprieve for some students. Fifty Laytonville residences were hit by power outages as the storms downed power lines and trees around the county, said PG&E spokeswoman Jana Morris.

To the east, more than 1,300 Covelo area residences were without power Monday along with 48 in Redwood Valley, she said.

Only two Sonoma County customers lost power, Morris said.

Schools in the Cobb Mountain area of Lake County were open Monday but snow did force classes to begin late and end early at Cobb Mountain Elementary School.

“It’s snowing crazy and beautiful and cold,” school secretary Diane Cardoza said as staff and students hustled to get home as the snowfall increased Monday afternoon.

Cold weather kept most students indoors for the day but some classes ventured outside to build snowmen, she said.

Temperatures during the day ranged from 37 degrees in Willits to 47 degrees in Santa Rosa, unusually cold but breaking no records, weather officials said.

Potential school closures later this week will depend on early morning conditions, school officials said.

Laytonville school transportation staffers will be out at 5 a.m. Tuesday, scouting road conditions before deciding whether it’s safe for buses to pick up students, Markatos said.

School closures typically are announced through local radio stations. Some schools also list closures on their telephone messages and web sites.

Icy conditions on Monday also temporarily closed Highway 101 south of Willits to vehicles other than those with snow tires and chains.

Traffic on highways 20 and 29 in Lake County also was held up by the weather, which triggered a spate of accidents, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Lake County CHP spokesman Adam Garcia said he counted more than a dozen minor accidents just during his 10 mile commute on Highway 29 between Soda Bay and Kelseyville early Monday morning.

A horse that wandered onto a Sonoma County roadway was killed when it was struck by two vehicles Monday morning but otherwise there were no serious-injury automobile crashes reported by the CHP in Sonoma, Lake or Mendocino counties as of Monday afternoon.

With more bad weather on the horizon, Garcia warned drivers to be especially cautious.

“Slow down,” he said.

He also recommended checking road conditions often and being prepared to become stranded by carrying tire chains, flashlights and batteries, flares, small shovels, windshield scrapers, warm, waterproof clothing, blankets, snacks, water and cell phones.