Wet Weather Means Holiday Travel Headaches
DONNER SUMMIT (CBS13) – Snow made for treacherous driving conditions in the mountains, catching some holiday travelers off-guard.
"Just about 35 maybe, maybe 40 and I just hit a little wet spot with snow and i started spinning," driver Juan Alvarado said.
Alvardo says he wasn't even going very fast when icy and wet conditions on Interstate 80 near Donner Summit sent his Volvo sliding out of control and flipped it upside down.
"It flipped over completely on the road," Alvarado said. "I went up to the hill and when it came down from the hill it flipped over."
Drivers on both sides of I-80 saw heavy snow mixed with cold rain that caused dangerous roadway conditions.
Most drivers kept a slow pace.
"If you don't have chains and you're not on the right snow tires or all-wheel drive, then you're going to be in trouble for sure," driver Price Walker said.
Arturo Chavez says he wasn't prepared for all this snow on his way back from visiting family in Reno. He was wearing only flip flops to put chains on his tires after his car spun out on the icy roadway.
"On the freeway, we went two, three times around," Chavez said.
Snow plows kept the roadways clear of major hazards but drivers still say they had trouble.
"Some people spun out towards Truckee and stuff like that," another driver said. "You definitely need to be cautious out there."
Walker says he planned ahead and threw on his snow tires before he started his drive back to the Bay Area – a good way to beat the bad weather and the holiday traffic.
"We decided to leave later so that we would avoid the bulk of it … and its worked out so far," Walker said. "Painless, compared to last year and the year prior."
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