A Caltrans snow plow operator ready to crawl through downed power lines and cedar tree to start his 12-hour shift on March 1st, 2023

January

A few minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve of 2022, the old year went out with a bang in Downieville - a couple of PG&E transformers exploded during a powerful rainstorm. As a result, the residents of Downieville, Sierra City, and Green Acres were all without electricity at dawn on 1/1/2023. But Sierra County was not alone in facing storm damages. For example, in Plumas County, the New Year’s storm caused a massive mud and rockslide across CA-70, closing this route to the Sacramento Valley for most of the year. Also, with flash flooding, avalanches, plus rock and mudslides taking place in both Northern and Southern California, Gov. Newsom declared a statewide emergency.

A few days later, Jerry McCaffery, Jr., succumbed to the ravages of time and died peacefully at age 89. The beloved, long-time County Supervisor, dedicated firefighter, and Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) who owned the Sierraville Service and Country Store for many years was saluted for his services by all who knew him.

Meanwhile, the longboard season began in Johnsville on 1/15/2023 during a snowstorm, and, yes, the conditions for this competition remained excellent during the races held in February and March.

On 1/18/2023, while another powerful winter storm was pounding the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, Caltrans noticed a landslide jeopardizing the stability of the southbound lane on the Depot Hill grade of CA-49. Thus, motorists endured one-lane traffic controls at the site for nearly nine months while Caltrans’ contractors shored up the highway.

On 1/26/2023, despite valiant efforts to rescue and revive “Lio” Nevarez by the Sierra County Sheriff’s Office, the Western Sierra Medical Clinic, and Downieville’s Volunteer Fire Department, Nevarez died of drowning in the Yuba River, less than a mile east of Downieville.

February

The price of eggs had doubled over the past year.

Mia Martinelli won Sierra County’s Poetry Out Loud competition after facing stiff competition from Abigail Sainsbury and Riley Perlmund. Later in the month, Martinelli also emerged victorious in the annual Lion’s Club Speech Contest.

On 2/12/2023, Quincy was rattled when a fire at the corner of 1st Street and E. Main St. destroyed three buildings, displaced fourteen people, killed one person, and injured another.

The editor of The Mountain Messenger made an epic, 2,000-mile, mid-winter road trip to Polson, Montana, for a showing of “Carl Runs the Paper” at the Flathead Lake International Cinema festival. Unfortunately, a film about the survival of a salmon fish cannery in Alaska won the prize for best film in the Documentary Shorts category. Fortunately, the editor had plenty of experience driving on snow-covered roads and survived the drive back to Downieville.

The intense winter storm arriving while the editor was returning to work managed to bring down trees along Downieville’s Main St., resulting in a week-long power outage for the town. The storm also filled Downieville with eastbound travelers who had tried to reach Reno after I-80 closed.

March

Yuba Pass Chili Cook-Off attendees brave the early-March weatherAlmost 50 fearless and adventurous souls braved slippery, snow-covered roads to face wind-blowing snow horizontally at the 29th annual Great Yuba Pass Chili Cook-off. The Chicks and Chili by the Farm House Girls (Amanda and Amy) entry was voted the 2023 champion.

The Sierra County Board of Supervisors joined 12 other California counties by making a local State of Emergency declaration due to the impacts of the “Snowpocalypse” starting at the end of February.

Fortunately, the warm “Pineapple Express” predicted to arrive on 3/9/2023 did not quite materialize. Instead of receiving 15 inches of rain, Downieville only received 10 inches, and rather than melting the snowpack and unleashing flood waters, being colder than expected, the storm brought several feet of new snow to Yuba Pass.

The man who shot and wounded two people before murdering Dr. Ari Gershman at Poker Flat on 7/3/2020 received a 39-years to life sentence.

The Sierra County Forester, Danielle Bradfield, announced the US Dept. of Agriculture had granted the county $2.3 million to support the development of Firewise communities and assist with fuel reduction projects in the Sierra Valley area.

The price of eggs and gas continued to plague consumers, both locally and nationwide.

All the trails at upper elevations were in excellent condition for snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing, while the rivers and streams of the region were running at volumes well above seasonal norms.

A sinkhole developed on CA-70, just east of Beckwourth, due to a broken culvert, not as a result of land subsidence caused by excessive pumping of irrigation water from the Sierra Valley aquifer to grow alfalfa.