Mountain Snowstorm Triggers Multiple Collisions On I-80

DONNER SUMMIT (CBS SF) -- A winter storm front moved through the Sierra Tuesday, dumping more than a foot of snow near Donner Summit and triggering treacherous driving conditions that led to numerous spinouts and crashes.

The California Highway Patrol in Truckee posted on Twitter at 3:15 p.m. that they "had about eight traffic collisions within an hour including several big rigs."

Fortunately, no one suffered serious injuries in the crashes including a driver who slammed into the rear of a big rig.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for the Sierra until 5 a.m. on Wednesday. Chain controls were in place in the high passes on Highway 50 and I-80.

"A cold weather system will continue bring moderate to locally heavy snow to the northern Sierra Nevada through this evening," the weather service said. "Low snow levels may bring a dusting of snow into the lower foothill elevations during this time."

At the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab located near Donner Summit nearly a foot of snow had fallen by 8 a.m.

"11.1' (inches) of #snow over the last 24 hours at our 8am measurement! With a snow water equivalent of 0.76', our snow to liquid ratio was about 15:1.," the researchers tweeted. "More is expected during the day today and we're expecting it to end this evening or early tomorrow."