Drayage Brokersin Fresno, CA

A number of residents of the central San Joaquin Valley reported seeing frozen rain in the latest Fresno-area storm but there wasn’t enough accumulated to call it snow, meteorologists said Thursday morning.

Reports came in from areas like Porterville and Laton of frozen precipitation, but it was mostly a mix of rain, hail and graupel, according to Antoinette Serrato, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford.

Fresno saw a short burst of heavier rain around 6 p.m. Wednesday that also included hail, she said.

Rainfall was heavier in the southern part of the Valley towards Bakersfield, but there was also no significant snow, according to the weather service.

More cold rain was expected late Thursday in Fresno. That’s up to a quarter-inch, and Friday night has a 100% chance of rain that could reach a half-inch or more, Serrato said.

China Peak at Huntington Lake in the eastern Fresno County mountains reported almost two feet of snow overnight.

Yosemite Valley, Tioga Pass and Mammoth Lakes are projected to see about 3 feet of snow through Saturday.

The service issued a Wind Advisory for Thursday night through Friday, with gusts up to 25 mph and 35 mph, she said.

While those may not be as high as the 54 mph recorded Tuesday at Fresno Air Terminal, they have the potential to bring down more trees and power poles.

Thousands of users lost power Tuesday as trees were toppled around Fresno and Clovis.

With trees already pummeled by high winds Tuesday, they may not stand up to a second wave of gusts and soft wet ground, Serrato said.

“There might be a chance for power outages,” she said. “Be prepared for freezing winds.”

Rain is in the forecast through Saturday with a break for some sun on Sunday, but more rain is possible as the night turns into Monday.

Hail and graupel have some similarities and may seem like the same thing to the layperson, but they get to a frozen stage in different ways.

Graupel is pellets of cooled water droplets, and hail can start as graupel but continue to add freezing water to its surface, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Hail has to be at least 0.2 inches.

Serrato said hail is typically rougher around the edges and clearer than the smoother and whiter graupel.

This story was originally published February 23, 2023, 10:17 AM.

A look at travel conditions and updated forecasts as a strong winter storm continues Sunday:

1:34 p.m. Sunday: Interstate 5 through the Grapevine reopened shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday, with California Highway Patrol officers escorting traffic.

“No chains are required,” the CHP said. “Be sure to slow down and use extra caution when driving as the roadway is still very wet and slick. Do not pass CHP officers conducting escorts.”

CHP is advising motorists to use Caltrans’ Quickmap for more road updates.

GLORIOUS SIGHT: We take clear roads for granted. I-5 Grapevine - major SB/NB corridor - is subject to Mother Nature. Hard work keeps us flowing. Please slow down to get home safely! pic.twitter.com/YZPyxJcyaZ

— Caltrans District 7 (@CaltransDist7) February 26, 2023

12:40 p.m. Sunday: A portion of Highway 99 in Pixley near Avenue 96 remained closed, according to Caltrans’ road conditions map.

The stretch was closed Saturday due to flooding.

11:30 a.m. Sunday: Caltrans said Highway 58 over Tehachapi Pass has reopened.

The highway had been closed over the pass in eastern Kern County from Towerline Road east of Bakersfield to exit 172 near the town of Mojave due to weather conditions and multiple traffic incidents.

Caltrans still urged motorists to drive with caution and allow themselves plenty of time to reach their destinations safely.

Caltrans also reminded drivers to make enough space if they come across a snowplow on the road for their safety and that of the snowplow operator.

10:30 a.m. Sunday: The California Highway Patrol now says Interstate 5 through the Grapevine will remain closed until sometime Sunday afternoon due to a “significant amount of ice buildup on the roadway.”

“Please be patient as we work diligently to ensure your safe travel up and over the Grapevine,” CHP said Sunday morning.

Caltrans crews and the CHP on Saturday night had said they hoped to have it reopened by 11 a.m.

CHP recommends people not wait on the roadside for the highway to reopen.

“If you can turn around and return home or go to a place off the freeway where there is gas, food, and facilities we suggest doing so for safety,” the agency said.

CHP will continue to provide updates on social media.

9 a.m. Sunday: Today will be dry until late in the afternoon when it begins to rain again, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist David Spector.

Spector said about a tenth to a quarter inch of rain is expected to fall in the Fresno-area beginning late Sunday and through Monday. Another tenth to a quarter inch of rain is expected from Monday night through Wednesday.

The high temperature for Sunday is expected to reach 52 degrees, with a low of 41 degrees overnight.

“It’s going to remain colder than normal for a while,” he said Sunday.

The low temperatures expected for Tuesday and Wednesday will be in the upper 30s, and the highs in the lower 50s. For Thursday and Friday, the low temperatures will be around 30 degrees and the highs are expected to be in the mid-to-upper 50s for those two days.

“It’s going to be colder in the morning toward the end of the week,” Spector said.

Another one to three feet of snow are expected in the Sierra Nevada in coming days, he said.

“Avoid travel if possible,” he advised the public.

Another storm may be headed toward the Fresno-area next weekend, but Spector said it’s too early to tell how strong of a system it might be.

For more weather updates, visit the National Weather Services homepage.

8 a.m. Sunday: The California Highway Patrol late said it expects to reopen Interstate 5 in the Grapevine at 11 a.m. Sunday.

CHP said crews would be working overnight to clear the Grapevine, which had accumulated snows and ice from the storm. CHP recommends people do not wait on the road for the Grapevine to reopen. “If you can turn around and return home or go to a place off the freeway where there is gas, food, and facilities we suggest doing so for safety,” the agency said. CHP will update its post on social media when the Interstate 5 in the Grapevine is ready to reopen.

1:30 a.m. Sunday: Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol closed Highway 58 over Tehachapi Pass in eastern Kern County early Sunday morning due to weather conditions and multiple traffic incidents, according to Caltrans.

The highway was closed in both directions at around 1:30 a.m. Sunday from Towerline Road east of Bakersfield to exit 172 near the town of Mojave.

“Because visibility is limited and roads are slick, we ask that all drivers slow down and allow themselves plenty of time to reach their destinations safely,” the agency said. “Caltrans also reminds drivers to move over for Caltrans crews, CHP, and other emergency vehicles.”

Caltrans will provide updates on the highway closure on its social media channels: Twitter and Facebook.

Saturday: Yosemite National Park will remain closed through Wednesday park officials announced.

Park officials had previously warned visitors to avoid the park amid the winter storm.

Travel on all Yosemite roads is restricted. Administrative staff are the only people allowed on the roads and are instructed to use El Portal Road, the extension of Highway 140 into the park.

Current weather conditions make it dangerous for visitors to visit the park, officials said.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks will offer limited access and services in the coming days as the storm continues, but park officials urged visitors to check updates on weather conditions before driving up to the parks.

Updates are available on the parks’ social media channel.

More updates to come

This story was originally published February 26, 2023, 9:15 AM.

OPINION AND COMMENTARY

Editorials and other Opinion content offer perspectives on issues important to our community and are independent from the work of our newsroom reporters.

Fresno State to the Big 12? As a lifelong Californian and geography enthusiast, the very notion befuddles my traditionalist brain.

In a world that made any logical sense, the Bulldogs would be competing against fellow California universities and those from neighboring states. Not schools from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and as far away as West Virginia.

Sadly, those antiquated notions no longer have a place in the landscape of big-time college sports. When USC and UCLA can ditch the Pac-12 and hook up with a conference rooted half a continent away, all bets are off.

Tradition means nothing. Old rivalries mean nothing. Proximity for student-athletes and fans means nothing. All that matters these days are media rights deals, which are largely based on the number of television sets in each market.

Of course, that doesn’t mean Fresno State should sit out the Power 5 conference expansion merry-go-round. President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval and athletic director Terry Tumey are obligated to put Bulldogs sports in the best possible position. Which involves chasing the almighty dollar into every potential rabbit hole.

I’ve already made my pitch that Fresno State belongs in the Pac-12, which will be down to 10 schools once USC and UCLA depart for the Big Ten. However, the Pac-12 presidents don’t see it that way. They’ve continued to stiff arm the Bulldogs while courting San Diego State and Southern Methodist, a wealthy, private university that barely makes a blip in the hefty Dallas-Fort Worth market.

At the same time, substantive conversations have taken place between Jiménez-Sandoval and Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, according to The Bee’s Robert Kuwada and other well-informed reporters. Yormark is on record as saying the Big 12 (which is losing Texas and Oklahoma and adding Houston, BYU, Cincinnati and Central Florida) wants to expand into the Pacific Time Zone.

Before any possible pair up between Fresno State and the Big 12 can take place, several dominoes must be turned over. The largest and most significant is the Pac-12’s impending media rights deal, which remains unsettled and is the subject of intense rumor and speculation.

There are too many permutations and combinations for me to explore them all. But the bottom line is this: Until the Pac-12 secures a television contract (be it broadcast, streaming or some combination) that pays its member institutions equal or greater than what Big 12 schools are getting, all bets are off.

The Pac-12 could emerge from this tumultuous period intact — or the so-called “Conference of Champions” could face a rocky future. Right now, no one knows for certain.

Since the Pac-12 (in its current form) has little interest in Fresno State, the Bulldogs are better off if that conference stays together instead of having more of its members poached.

Because, let’s face it, the Big 12 would much prefer to add the likes of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State than any current Mountain West school if the Pac-12 somehow splinters or implodes.

Honestly, Fresno State is fortunate to even be in this position. The Bulldogs’ attractiveness to the Big 12 is almost solely due to the football team’s recent success (both on the field and at the ticket window) and their preeminence in a decent-sized TV market.

At a time when college football attendance is shrinking nationwide, Fresno State stands out as a notable exception. Coach Jeff Tedford’s MW champions drew an average of 39,067 fans in 2022, which represents a 28% uptick from five years ago.

Otherwise, the Bulldogs have very little to brag about. The men’s basketball team is currently 10-18 overall and will finish below .500 in conference play for the fifth straight season under coach Justin Hutson. Remember when women’s basketball made seven straight trips to the NCAA Tournament? Those days are gone. Fresno State is well on its way to a second consecutive losing record under coach Jaime White.

Meanwhile, the once-proud baseball program is coming off back-to-back losing campaigns that resulted in coach Mike Batesole’s abrupt departure. And the softball team is trying to rebound from its only sub.-500 record since the program’s inception in 1978.

Wrestling’s much-ballyhooed return was a short-lived disaster, and women’s volleyball hasn’t reached the NCAAs since 2002. (Hey, at least water polo, swimming and diving and equestrian are in capable hands.)

At the same time, Fresno State hasn’t made much progress upgrading key facilities. The football stadium is antiquated and inaccessible to anyone lacking two sturdy knees — and now mired in an unfavorable naming rights deal with Valley Children’s Hospital. Furthermore, the athletic department remains a tenant in its own basketball arena, cut off from key revenue streams.

Certainly, the picture would get a lot rosier if the Big 12 comes calling. What a lucky lifeline that would be. History, geography and traditional rivalries be damned.

OPINION AND COMMENTARY

Editorials and other Opinion content offer perspectives on issues important to our community and are independent from the work of our newsroom reporters.

Over the years in this space, I have, occasionally, written about people who have touched my life in immeasurable ways – my mother, the grandkids, even foreigners met along life’s wondrous journey. This is another one of those columns.

It’s a rarity for my land-line to ring, but something prompted me that morning to answer what I hoped was not a robocall or scammer. Pleasantly surprised, a husky voice on the other end said, “Hello, is that you, Armen? This is Seth Atamian, your sixth-grade teacher from Winchell Elementary. Do you remember me?” (Let me just say here that my interior voice wanted to scream “Do I remember you? How could I forget you? I idolized you – are you kidding me?”). But before I could get a word in edgewise, he continued. “Can you believe I’m 90 years old?”

Dumbfounded but overcome with delight, I replied, “Well hello, Mr. A. Yes, this is Armen, of course I remember you, and can you believe your sixth-grade student is 70 years old?”

And just like that, an unstoppable series of stories and memories erupted, mini-explosions of Kodak moments, time blurring as we reminisced about his inaugural teaching days and the kind of recollections that stick when you’re a sixth grader: long bouts at the library researching Leonardo da Vinci for an arduous term paper assignment, spontaneous desk checks making sure books and supplies were neatly organized, trying out for his after school tumbling team and winning a spot despite obvious lack of coordination. His charismatic tendencies had landed us on “The Webster Webfoot Show: and for a few, brief moments, a bunch of southeast Fresno kids felt like Olympian superstars.

During our phone chat he told me about the oversized print of our gymnastics team hanging in his home office. A few weeks later, a framed 8 x 10 print arrived at my front door. Still the same thoughtful man, give or take a few decades, he exuded encouragement, deep pride for his students, never once realizing he had been the game changer and lifesaver for many of us.

Years ago, he had taken notice of the chubby little Armenian girl, uncomfortable in her own skin. As we conversed now, I returned to that precise moment nearly 60 years ago, a day he had pulled me aside — suggesting I read William Saroyan’s “My Name is Aram,” promising I would love the Pulitzer Prize-winning author’s storytelling magic, and maybe even see myself in one of his Armenian-bred characters. Saroyan quickly became my literary hero, evidenced today by a library bursting with his books and writings. Little did this giant of a teacher know that his self-conscious sixth grader would someday author her own book titled, “My Name is Armen,” inspired by two bigger-than-life humans: William Saroyan and Seth Atamian.

Great teachers influence their students’ lives — forever.

Seth Atamian grew up in rural poverty during the Depression, but was raised with the values of education and a strong work ethic. A proud graduate of Fresno State, he earned his degree in education, including a master’s in elementary school administration. His career spanned six decades, where he taught sixth grade at Columbia School in west Fresno (1954-58) and Winchell Elementary (1959-64). In 1965, he was promoted to vice principal at Winchell, and in 1967, became the first principal of Armenian descent in the Fresno Unified School District at Lowell Elementary (1967-71). He spent the next two decades as principal at Daily Elementary (1971-77), Wolters Elementary (1977-87), and Homan Elementary (1987-91). After retiring from Fresno Unified in 1996, Atamian was asked to serve as principal for the Armenian Community School of Fresno (now Charlie Keyan Armenian Community School) during a struggling period of limited budget. The six-month assignment turned into six years, and in the process, he revitalized the school and delivered a thriving student body.

There is a moment when one instinctively understands the importance and immediacy of now. Playwright and Hamilton star Lin-Manuel Miranda said it best: “Tell ‘em you love ‘em while they’re here.”

Our phone reunion had sparked the deep connection and sense of gratitude, and was also a reminder of how a single teacher can leave a permanent imprint on one’s life. It was also a nudge to take an action step. So that’s what a small group of us did one afternoon last October, arranging a day to show up, instant replay the past, all the while telling this man what a powerful and profound influence his teachings had played in shaping our futures, sculpting our lives.

A few weeks ago, I received the dreaded call saying my favorite sixth grade teacher had completed his earthly assignments. At his memorial service, he was heralded by many as an exemplary educator, friend, husband, father and grandfather. In everyone’s eyes, he had earned an A+.

What makes a great teacher? Passion for teaching. Love of kids. Patience. Drive. Warmth. Enthusiasm. Caring. Skilled leadership. The ability to create a sense of community and belonging in the classroom. High expectations for all students. A true belief that all children can learn.

Seth Atamian possessed all of these attributes and more. His passing set in motion a communication exchange between Winchell classmates and old friends — one by one each of us sharing how he had pulled us aside at one time or another, insisting we dream big, make our parents proud, and set the world on fire.

The New Mexico Lobos (20-9, 7-9 MWC) will host the Fresno State Bulldogs (10-18, 6-11 MWC) after losing three home games in a row. The contest tips at 10:30 PM ET on Tuesday, February 28, 2023. In this article, we analyze the New Mexico vs. Fresno State odds and lines ahead of this matchup.

The Lobos and the Bulldogs square off with no line currently set for the matchup.

New Mexico is 14-12-2 against the spread, while Fresno State’s ATS record this season is 10-17-0. In terms of hitting the over, games involving the Lobos are 18-10-0 and the Bulldogs are 11-16-0. New Mexico is 3-6-1 against the spread and 3-7 overall in its past 10 contests, while Fresno State has gone 5-5 against the spread and 3-7 overall.

Get ready for this matchup with everything you need to know about Tuesday’s college basketball action.

How to watch New Mexico vs. Fresno State

Find out how to watch for free with fuboTV.

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New Mexico vs. Fresno State prediction

New Mexico 76, Fresno State 63

Against the spread

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