Snow-Seekers Trek To Mount Diablo As Winter Weather Dusts Bay Area
(KPIX 5) -- Mount Diablo was among the Bay Area peaks covered in snow Monday as snow showers fell across higher Bay Area elevations; with more snow expected even below 1,000 feet.
There was just enough snow to cover the ground and make road conditions dangerous.
Those who made the drive up in the early afternoon didn't get to the top. Rangers, fearing slippery conditions, had already closed the road to the summit at the Juniper Campground parking lot.
But that didn't dissuade snow-seekers such as Martha Lopez, making the drive up from San Leandro, who hiked up to the top to enjoy the wintry weather.
"We never saw it since, like, I think, a couple years ago," said Lopez, "and now, when I see it will be here, I say, I want to go!"
What began to fall wasn't really snow but a light hail, tiny ice pellets that stung the eyes of Karina Iraheta who drove up from Pittsburg. "I can't see! It's full of ice!" said Iraheta. "We came from Oregon not too long ago, so, up there it's real snow. This is a mixture of ice and who knows what else."
But this is the Bay Area, where nothing frozen ever falls from the sky. So on Monday, Cathy Keeley made her husband Dale drive up to Mount Diablo just to walk their dog.
"Are you a cold weather person?" I asked Cathy. "I like the SNOW," she said.
"She hates the cold!" Dale said. "She hates the cold, but she's got a thing with snow!"
Then the ice flurry really began and, at long last, what looked like actual flakes began to fall - the first snow to fall on Danville high-schooler Jack Nave since he was eight years old.
"The last time this happened I was in 2nd grade," he said, "and I'm a junior now. So … pretty cool."
"I think we're very lucky to be able to live in the Bay Area," said Jack's father, Jerry Nave. "To come up and see Mount Diablo, see snow and then drive down and pretty soon it's nice and sunny. You never know what you're going to get. It's great; a 15 minute ride from my home to come up here."
Rangers usually stop traffic at Juniper Campground during snow events and said they were expecting a lot more people to come up Tuesday to play in the snow that accumulates overnight.
