During his winter drives up Interstate 80 toward Lake Tahoe, Sean Bigley keeps his eyes peeled. He isn’t just watching traffic — he’s also scanning the highway shoulders to see exactly how much snow has fallen.
To Bigley, the city of Roseville’s environmental utilities director, a bare roadside is an early warning sign.
“You may see snow in the upper reaches of the mountain tops, but you may not necessarily see that (along) Interstate 80,” he said. “And so that may indicate it may not be a good year coming.”…