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The big dump | Digging out from 11 feet of snow in Mammoth Lakes

Workers shovel snow off the roofs of condos as a snowplow is dwarfed by snowdrifts while clearing the parking lot in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., after a blizzard dropped as much as 11 feet of snow in the biggest storm system so far this season.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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From the Bay Area to Los Angeles, it was a day to gaze upon snowcapped peaks and acknowledge that, yes, California does have a winter, while sharing a photo or two on social media.

But don’t expect the alpine glory — caused by a series of cold storms that dropped snow levels dramatically — to disappear immediately.

At top, a snowboarder flies off a jump at Mammoth Mountain. Left, a snowboarder falls through a snowbank at the ski area. Giant snowdrifts, at right, dwarf a snowboarder heading back to lodgings in Mammoth Lakes. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Wet weather will kick back up again Friday for large swaths of the state, which could bring hazardous conditions for drivers. The National Weather Service said two new low-pressure systems would be coming from the Arctic and slamming the Sierra Nevada with low temperatures and snow this weekend.

The systems will be coming in from the north over western Canada and won’t be as strong as the storms earlier this week, but they will still be cold. Since the storms started on Feb. 2, Mammoth Mountain has seen 132 inches of snow, Kirkwood 92 inches and Northstar 78 inches.

The system hitting the state Friday into Saturday is expected to dump between 8 to 12 inches of snow on Donner Pass, while the Sunday system will bring 18 to 24 inches of snow, said Cory Mueller, a meteorologist with the weather service in Sacramento.

Mammoth and June Lake snow resorts reopened Wednesday and are now contending with as much as 11 feet of new snow and temperatures hovering around zero.

Clockwise from top left; Erik Harriman of Newport Beach shovels a walkway as workers shovel giant snowdrifts off the roof of St. Anton condos in Mammoth Lakes; a Caltrans snowplow clears a road near Highway 395 near Mammoth Lakes; wind blows snow off the top of Mt. Whitney after recent snowstorms blanketed the Eastern Sierra Nevadas; and giant snowdrifts cover a truck and lodging in Mammoth Lakes. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Ski lifts at Mammoth are back up and running, but skiers will face biting cold weather. The temperature early Thursday was 6 heading toward an expected high of 24.

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