GAZETTE PHOTO BY JILL BALLINGER BY MID-MORNING ON MONDAY, MARIPOSA WAS BLANKETED WITH SNOW. THE WEATHER BROUGHT A NUMBER OF TRAVEL PROBLEMS, BUT DID NOT CAUSE MANY POWER OUTAGES. SNOW FELL AS LOW AS CATHEY’S VALLEY, AND THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS RECEIVED UP TO TWO FEET OF NEW POWDER. Monday’s winter storm put the entire county on ice, figuratively and literally. The unusually cold weather system dropped snow levels below Cathey’s Valley, left heavy amounts at higher elevations and created all kinds of traffic problems.

In its wake on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings were the problems caused by extremely cold temperatures, in many cases in the teens. That made for plenty of icy roads, frozen pipes and lots of headaches for residents. For the most part, however, there was not any widespread damage.

The snow started to fall at higher elevations early Monday morning, but spread to lower levels by mid-morning. With the lower snow levels came lots of traffic problems. By 10 a.m., cars were sliding off Highway 140 on the Guadalupe Grade. At around 10:30 a.m., a Mariposa County Sheriff’s deputy decided to close the road.

The highway briefly reopened to vehicles with chains, but the snow continued, and so did the traffic problems. The road was closed again to prevent more accidents.

All over the county, vehicles were sliding off the roads and into embankments. The sheriff’s log from Monday shows no fewer than a dozen calls about cars off the road. The California Highway Patrol, however, noted that there was only one accident. It happened on Triangle Road shortly after noon.

Public Works Director Dana Hertfelder said his crews were stretched thin, but still managed to do an “outstanding job” of clearing and sanding the roads. Because this storm dropped snow below 2,000 feet, County crews had to remove snow from roads that normally don’t get any.

After the snow stopped and things got icy, Hertfelder said crews started sanding at midnight on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. He is watching the weather forecast for the weekend closely, but doesn’t believe snow will fall as low.

“We survived this one,” Hertfelder said on Wednesday morning, crediting his road and facility crews which are already shorthanded. Unlike the freeze of January, 2007, County building escaped any damage. Temperatures were about in the same range, but Hertfelder said there were no pipe breaks or flooding issues.

On Monday, Mariposa County government offices closed early so that employees could get home safely. Students in the Mariposa County Unified School District had the day off because of the storm. Classes resumed Tuesday, but on a late day schedule because of the icy roads.

MCUSD Director of Maintenance, Transportation and Operations Bob Morse said he was dealing with all kinds of problems on Tuesday. There were broken or frozen pipes at Mariposa County High School, the transportation department, Cathey’s Valley and Lake Don Pedro Elementary Schools and the preschool on the Mariposa Elementary campus.

Buses ran two hours late, and Morse said most of them still used chains to make their routes. A couple ran later than the delay time because of road conditions. Coulterville-Greeley Hill Elementary School remained closed on Tuesday because there was still no electricity in the area. School resumed on Wednesday after power had been restored.

Still, Morse said things were not as bad as January of 2007, when broken pipes damage causes thousands of dollars in damage to schools.

More wet weather is expected by late Thursday. The National Weather Service predicts a 70 percent chance of rain on Thursday into Friday. The storm is expected to be warmer than the last, however, with snow levels at around 4,000 feet.

An even wetter weather system is expected for the weekend. There are chances of rain from Thursday through next Monday.