BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Once again, it is October 10th today, 10/10/2000, and some parts of the country still thinking about the swimsuits and the beach chairs. But in the Sierras, in Northern California, the focus has shifted quickly, now, to snow scrapers and mittens. The first big storm of the season has hit. Christie Smith of our affiliate KCRA now with more from the Sierras there.</s>CHRISTIE SMITH, KCRA REPORTER (voice-over): Along Interstate 80, fall looked a lot more like winter this morning in the Sierras. Snow fell nonstop at the higher elevations, enough to call for chain controls at Kingvale.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got to have chains on.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As long as we can keep the snow at a steady pace and keep up with it we'll be fine.</s>SMITH: But trucker Gary Sedue (ph) calls this much ado about nothing. He is from Canada, and didn't see fit to bring chains along Interstate 80.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Running in Canada, we never need chains over there.</s>QUESTION: What's going on?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. They said that you have to have chains on, otherwise you can't cross the highway.</s>SMITH: Leroy Brown (ph) chose not to cross Donner Summit. His 1984 Mercedes has 244.000 miles on it and he says he is not traveling one more until the snow lets up.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I brought chains, but I just don't want to put them on yet. They might to have the road pretty well cleared. Just because you have chains doesn't mean you can see in the snow when you are driving. And so it's best to be safe. And if the snow is coming down fairly rapidly and the visibility is down to 20 feet, there is no point in going on, chains or no chains.</s>HEMMER: KCRA, Christie Smith again.
Early Snows Hinder Travel in Northern California