By 11:15 p.m., the snow had nearly covered the print.
The snow coated just about everything in the town many believe is the center of California. But for PG&E crews in North Fork this snow day was anything but a day off.
The heavy snow that piled up overnight weighed heavily on trees and branches knocking out one of the main transmissions lines, leaving the whole town in the dark all night long.
Hal Weissmann, PG&E Crew Foreman: "There's alot of individual outages where the trees go and rip off the services to the houses. We try to get those case by case."
With school buses not moving, Nadine Hatcher and her son made the best of a long chilly morning without power, stocking up on supplies.
Nadine Hatcher, North Fork Resident: "We have a pellet stove. When there's no energy, we have no heat. We have no water. We had our stovetop, so we warmed some water left in the pipes and washed in it."
The power outages aren't the only problem. The downed trees and power lines like this made it difficult for some people to even leave their driveways."
Andy Stoltzner says he had to cut threw three trees to get his wife and pickup truck to the North Fork Supermarket.
Andy Stoltzner, North Fork Resident: "What I did was drive half way up the road got stuck in my driveway again. I walked up got a chainsaw, went back out and cut it all out and made it to the store."
Stoltzner and others say it's been at least seven years since it snowed more than half a foot here at 25-hundred feet.
A few hundred feet lower in Coarsegold where snowmen lasted thru the morning melt, the snow was more fun than trouble.
Rigoberto Gonzalez came from Fresno to play with his family.
This is the first time he's ever seen snow.
His wife says he doesn't want to leave.
"Just a special day for him that he will never forget, a very special day."
Whether its smiles, or problems, this is a view most of the area won't soon forget.
