“There’s a high likelihood that people will be stranded if they try to drive up here from the Bay Area,” said Craig Shoemaker, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento, on Thursday afternoon. “It’s too late to even try. It’s a very dangerous, life-threatening situation that will be developing.”

At local stores in Lake Tahoe, people bought tire chains, snow blowers, shovels, flashlights, candles, battery-powered lanterns and telescoping roof rakes for pulling down accumulated snow on homes.

“Today most of the locals are saying, “There is something big going on,” and yesterday they were saying, “Are we really going to get 10 feet of snow?” said Brittney McClain, manager of Ace Hardware in South Lake Tahoe.

The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for the Northern and Central Sierra continuing through 10 a.m. Saturday, the first such warning since Feb. 27 last year.

Meanwhile, the Sierra Avalanche Center in Truckee issued a backcountry avalanche watch in effect from 7 a.m. Friday to 5 p.m. Sunday for the Central Sierra, including the Lake Tahoe area, warning of “extremely dangerous” avalanche conditions.

Because of high winds and declining visibility, ski resorts were expected to close or severely limit operations this weekend.

Sierra-at-Tahoe closed Thursday and announced it also would be shuttered on Friday “to preserve the safety of our guests and employees.” Heavenly closed Thursday afternoon, and other resorts, such as Kirkwood and Palisades, had only a few chair lifts running Thursday, with most closed due to high winds.

Last winter, a series of massive atmospheric river storms dumped dozens of feet of snow on the Sierra Nevada, ending a three-year drought. The Sierra snowpack, which provides about 30% of California’s water supply, was at its deepest level in 40 years. Reservoirs around the state filled, and ski resorts stayed open well into the spring.

As a result, Tahoe locals, even newly arrived residents, have a lot of recent practice on how to prepare for blizzard conditions, McClain said. In some neighborhoods, people plan to dig out fire hydrants to stop them from being buried too deep in snow. In other areas, residents were tossing salt pellets on their roofs or plugging in electric roof cables to prevent huge amounts of snow and ice from building up.

Last March, the roof collapsed at the Raley’s supermarket in South Lake Tahoe under the weight of snow and ice.

“When you have too much snow on your roof, your doors and windows don’t open correctly. Eventually you can start having beams break down, and the roofs can collapse,” McClain said. “We had a huge mass of ice, 15 feet long and about 2 feet around, that formed on the roof of our house last winter. It was in front of our windows. If it had fallen, it could have broken through.”

On Thursday afternoon, Tricia Popky, a Carmel Valley nurse who has a cabin near Donner Lake, was in central Truckee buying winter gloves, firewood and kindling and a new firewood rack for the cabin. “I’m just going to be hunkering down,” Popky said. “I’m going to cook some soup. I’m so excited because I got my wood-burning stove working.”

The latest storm, a powerful cold front that is carrying an unusual amount of moisture, originated over the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia.

The National Weather Service said it will only bring 1 or 2 inches of rain to most Bay Area communities. But the storm is forecast to dump 5 to 10 feet of snow in the Sierra above 5,000 feet and 1 to 4 feet of snow at about 3,000 feet. In some high-elevation spots, 12 feet is possible by Sunday.

“If what we’re seeing from the models ends up happening, this is a truly remarkable storm system,” said Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist at the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab near Donner Summit. “It’s one that we very rarely have had before. It could set a highest snowfall on a single day for us.”

Since modern records began in 1970, the most snow the snow lab, which sits at about 6,900 feet, has ever received in one day was 53 inches, on Feb. 3, 1989.

An early inkling of the meteorological mayhem came Thursday morning when Interstate 80, the main highway over the Sierra, was closed eastbound for more than three hours after a big rig overturned near Donner Lake interchange, blocking both lanes of traffic, just as the snow was beginning to fall. The driver suffered minor injuries.

“It was pretty nasty for a while,” said John O’Connell, a Caltrans spokesman. “He was going too fast.”

Cars sat for miles all morning in stopped traffic or attempted to navigate backroads to get around it.

San Jose truck driver Erik Lopez, making a run from Stockton to Reno, was putting chains on his 18-wheeler near Kingvale on I-80 Thursday amid increasingly heavy snowfall after getting stuck in the lengthy jam. At the top of his mind was making sure he would return home to his family.

“There’s no fear in my heart,” said Lopez, 34. “But there’s safety in my heart.”

Farther east, Truckee resident Brent Martin was pulling into his garage after a sketchy trip from Sacramento in his pickup truck, traveling via backroads because of the I-80 crash. He planned to keep off highways until the storm has passed but was not expecting snow-related problems at home.

The blizzard would be “nothing compared to last year,” he predicted. “I’d shovel four feet off my deck twice a day last year.”

Martin urged non-residents to stay away this weekend.

“Tell everyone not to come up — all the Teslas and the Priuses, stay down in the Bay Area,” said Martin, 32. “That’s what causes a lot of the problems. Teslas are the new minivans — we hate ’em up here.”

The disruption Thursday wasn’t just limited to Tahoe and Donner Summit. Yosemite National Park officials said the park would be closed Friday and will not open until at least Sunday afternoon.

While a headache for motorists and first responders, the storm was a godsend to water managers. On Thursday, the statewide Sierra snowpack was 80% of its historical average, up from 28% on Jan. 1 after a wet February.

“When all is said and done, it is likely the Sierra snowpack will be significantly above average just about everywhere in as little as a week,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA.

“This storm will certainly bolster the Sierra snow pack, but it is going to cause a lot of disruption.”

Elect Sally Lieber as
District 5 supervisor

As a long-time Santa Clara County resident and community advocate, I wholeheartedly endorse Sally Lieber for District 5 representative to the county Board of Supervisors. I have known Sally since her early days of serving on the Mountain View City Council. She has also been mayor of Mountain View and a state Assembly member. Sally currently serves on the state Board of Equalization.

Sally is honest, ethical, fair, collaborative, communicative and transparent in her decision-making and actions.

Sally has been the thoughtful champion for a variety of issues. When elected, Sally will be a pair of pragmatic boots on the ground. Sally has neither been bullied by nor beholden to self-serving special-interest groups, individuals or industries and will continue to champion important issues for those represented in District 5 and the county. Please vote for Sally Lieber for the Board of Supervisors, District 5.

Elinor Stetson
Sunnyvale

Casey is strongest
S.J. council candidate

George Casey is the best candidate for all of District 10.

He was the best candidate two years ago, when the other council members appointed someone else to temporarily serve our district, and he’s the best by far now. His life has been spent attaining the skills that will serve all of us in this position. He grew up in a couple of homes in two separate parts of the district, attained a high-quality education, including a law degree, master’s in urban planning and a master’s in real estate. He has used that knowledge and his negotiating skills to serve all of us for several years on the Planning Commission. He truly understands how the city functions and will use his negotiating skills to protect our neighborhoods while supporting Mayor Matt Mahan’s agenda to address crime, homelessness, and blight.

It’s time for us to select a strong council member.

Rich Crowley
San Jose

Tara Sreekrishnan for
Assembly District 26

Climate change is the issue of our times. We must elect leaders to the Legislature to reduce emissions and limit overall temperature increases.

Tara Sreekrishnan supports and champions the need for California to draw down carbon and move to a renewables economy. Her priorities include transitioning to solar, wind, EV adoption, sustainability and green buildings. Of particular note has been her effort to highlight the emissions from the Santa Clara Lehigh Southwest Cement Plant, and to move the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to dramatically increase oversight of the plant’s emissions reductions with a goal toward eventual closure.

Tara, a strong millennial voice and advocate for the environment, will work with the Legislature to champion change and push for climate solutions. Her proven record of leadership with grassroots environmental groups and youth is needed in the state Assembly.

Please join me in voting for Tara.

Carrie Levin
Sunnyvale

Return Zoe Lofgren’s
expertise to Congress

I am proud to serve with Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, the chair of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation and one of the most respected members of Congress. She is an expert on immigration law, science policy and a former chair of the House Ethics Committee.

I’m disgusted by Charlene Nijmeh’s campaign that is centered on disinformation — including the recent distribution of flyers with pictures of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries with the candidate, clearly meant to mislead voters. Both Pelosi and Jeffries endorse Zoe Lofgren.

Disinformation destroys democracy. Voters must stand with truth and vote to reelect Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren.

Rep. Anna Eshoo

Menlo Park

Liccardo will get things
done in Congress

Sam Liccardo’s recent eight years as a get-things-done mayor of San José showcased how effective he would be in Congress. Liccardo’s successful leadership of the nation’s then-10th largest city ⏤ from homeless mitigation to the high cost of living ⏤ was a doctoral treatise on how a major metropolitan area can prosper in difficult times. He explains online how he will do it again as a new member of the House.

Some may view District 16 as a Palo Alto and North County preserve. It is not. District 16 has evolved with exciting potential. With changes to California’s district maps following the 2020 census, District 16 is an engine of accomplishment and challenge from metropolitan San José to high-tech in Santa Clara County. Sam Liccardo has a track record of successfully dealing with the multifaceted demands of 2024 unmatched by any other candidate in this election.

John Heagerty
San Jose

Simitian best prepared
for seat in House

Re: “Crowded field raises more than $4M in bid to replace Rep. Eshoo” (Page A1, Feb. 16).

The article on the run for Anna Eshoo’s open congressional seat is a good comparison of candidate positions on important issues, including climate change.

Because of its urgency, climate change is the most important issue in this race for U.S. Congress. Please vote for Joe Simitian.

Rob Hogue
Menlo Park

House needs Lofgren
on agricultural policy

If we want the Salinas Valley to continue as the “Salad Bowl of the World,” we’d better elect to Congress a politician who supports agriculture.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren is a staunch advocate for the agricultural industry. She has experience, vision and a track record of support for AgTech.

She has already secured emergency relief for growers impacted by the 2023 storms and helped get $2.8 billion in support for farmers impacted by natural disasters, along with emergency USDA loans.

Addressing the agricultural labor crisis, she authored the Farm Workforce Modernization Act — the first agriculture labor reform legislation to pass the House since 1986. It helps grant 1.5 million farmworkers legal status, protects them and gives flexibility to employers.

She has led bipartisan efforts in crop science, precision agriculture and other research projects. She wants to reform specialty crop insurance.

Want District 18’s agricultural industry to flourish? Vote Zoe Lofgren.

Jim White
Salinas

Chunli Zhao, 67, spoke little during the brief hearing, which came a month after a San Mateo County grand jury indicted him in the January 2023 workplace massacre. Along with seven murder charges, Zhao faces a charge of attempted murder, to which he also pleaded not guilty.

The indictment — which superseded charges filed just days after the shooting spree — was sought as a way to “move the case along” after delays affected the timing of a key evidentiary hearing, according to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. As a result of the indictment, no such preliminary hearing is needed and the case is now bound for trial.

Zhao was ordered to appear again in court for a hearing April 19.

“The victims’ families deserve to have this move along,” said Wagstaffe, shortly after the indictment last month.

Wearing a red jail outfit with an orange long-sleeved undershirt, Zhao stood quietly during the hearing with his head bowed and his arms folded in front of him. He wore a blue face mask and black headphones, into which a Mandarin interpreter translated the court’s proceedings.

He only said the word “yes” in Mandarin, when asked whether he understood and agreed with his attorney’s decision to waive his right to a speedy trial.

Zhao had pleaded not guilty last year to the original charges and has been in custody since surrendering to authorities hours after the mass shooting. He remains held in the San Mateo County jail without bail.

Prosecutors say Zhao killed four workers and severely wounded a fifth at California Terra Garden, a mushroom farm in Half Moon Bay where he lived and worked for seven years, most recently as a forklift driver. The violence appeared to stem from a workplace grudge, according to authorities — one triggered by a $100 equipment bill from his boss for damage to heavy construction equipment.

Moments before opening fire, Zhao vented his frustrations at the supervisor and a co-worker whom Zhao blamed for a collision between his forklift and a bulldozer, prosecutors allege. After the confrontation, he allegedly shot the supervisor and the coworker, along with the co-worker’s wife and two others at the farm.

The shooting illuminated deep concerns about living conditions among migrant workers living on farms across San Mateo County. County and state officials have described the workers’ dwellings at California Terra Garden as “deplorable,” with families living in shacks with leaky roofs and no running water or kitchens.

A subsequent Bay Area News Group investigation found that laws meant to ensure livable farmworker housing often went unenforced in San Mateo County, allowing farm owners to neglect their struggling workforce, including the shooter and his victims.

The hearing was presided over by Judge Elizabeth Lee, after a previous judge, Sean Dabel, recused himself. Dabel was a former prosecutor at the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office and maintains close ties with the prosecutor overseeing Zhao’s case, Joshua Stauffer, according to Wagstaffe.

The seven-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter has lined up five California dates on her 2024 Deeper Well World Tour.

Musgraves performs Sept. 23 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Sept. 24 at Chase Center in San Francisco, Oct. 1 at Pechanga Arena San Diego in San Diego and Oct. 3-4 at the KIA Forum in Inglewood.

Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. March 8, kaceymusgraves.com/tour. American Express cardholders have access to presales in some markets, from 10 a.m. March 5 to 10 p.m. March 7.

Support acts for the tour include Madi Diaz, Father John Misty, Lord Huron and Nickel Creek.

Musgraves is set to release her fifth studio album, “Deeper Well,” out March 15.

KACEY MUSGRAVES DEEPER WELL WORLD TOUR DATES

+Madi Diaz supporting

*Father John Misty/ Nickel Creek supporting

#Lord Huron/ Nickel Creek supporting

Sunday, April 28, 2024- Dublin, IE @ 3Olympia Theatre +

Wednesday, May 1, 2024- Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso +

Friday, May 3, 2024- Brussels, BE@ Ancienne Belgique +

Sunday, May 5, 2024- Cologne, DE @ Carlswerk Victoria +

Monday, May 6, 2024- Hamburg, DE @ DOCKS +

Thursday, May 9, 2024- Glasgow, UK @ O2 Academy +

Saturday, May 11, 2024- Manchester, UK @ O2 Apollo+

Monday, May 13, 2024- Wolverhampton, UK @ The Civic at The Halls +

Tuesday, May 14, 2024- London, UK @ Roundhouse +

Wednesday, September 4, 2024- State College, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center *

Friday, September 6, 2024- Boston, MA @ TD Garden *

Saturday, September 7, 2024- Boston, MA @ TD Garden *

Monday, September 9, 2024- Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center *

Wednesday, September 11, 2024- Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena *

Thursday, September 12, 2024- Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena *

Sunday, September 15, 2024- Greenwood Village, CO @ Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre *

Thursday, September 19, 2024- Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena *

Friday, September 20, 2024- Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena *

Monday, September 23, 2024- Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center *

Tuesday, September 24, 2024- San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center *

Friday, September 27, 2024- Glendale, AZ @ Desert Diamond Arena *

Saturday, September 28, 2024- Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena *

Tuesday, October 1, 2024- San Diego, CA @ Pechanga Arena San Diego *

Thursday, October 3, 2024- Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum *

Friday, October 4, 2024- Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum *

Wednesday, November 6, 2024- Laval, QC @ Place Bell #

Thursday, November 7, 2024- Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena #

Saturday, November 9, 2024- Baltimore, MD @ CFG Bank Arena #

Sunday, November 10, 2024- Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena #

Tuesday, November 12, 2024- Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center #

Wednesday, November 13, 2024- Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center #

Friday, November 15, 2024- Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center #

Saturday, November 16, 2024- Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center #

Thursday, November 21, 2024- Houston, TX @ Toyota Center #

Friday, November 22, 2024- Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center #

Saturday, November 23, 2024- Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center #

Tuesday, November 26, 2024- Austin, TX @ Moody Center #

Wednesday, November 27, 2024- Austin, TX @ Moody Center #

Friday, November 29, 2024- Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena #

Saturday, November 30, 2024- Hollywood, FL @ Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood #

Monday, December 2, 2024- Orlando, FL @ Kia Center #

Thursday, December 5, 2024- Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center #

Friday, December 6, 2024- Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena #

Saturday, December 7, 2024- Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena #

The first rain from a powerful winter storm moved into the Bay Area on Thursday morning.

A blizzard warning is in effect for the northern and central Sierra Nevada from 4 a.m. Thursday until 10 a.m. Sunday, with high winds and 3 to 8 feet of snow expected in the Tahoe area. Travel is not advised.

Updates on road closures and chain controls can be found on CalTrans’ website or mobile app or by calling (800) 427-7623.

The 27-year-old right-hander brought these symptoms to the Giants’ medical staff, who recommended he visit a specialist. After being scratched from his first scheduled start of the spring Monday, Beck flew back to San Francisco, where vascular specialists at Stanford diagnosed him with an aneurysm in his upper arm, the club announced Thursday.

The outlook for Beck is unclear as he weighs treatment options, which manager Bob Melvin declined to discuss, though he ruled him out for Opening Day and said he would not pitch again for some time. Of more immediate concern was for his well-being than who might backfill his place in the starting rotation.

“We just want to make sure we get it taken care of and he moves on from there,” Melvin said. “It’s obviously not ideal.”

The condition, in which a blood vessel expands or bulges and can eventually rupture, is fairly novel within the game, where tendons, ligaments and soft tissue are usually of more concern. A 40-year veteran of the sport, Melvin said he could not remember the ailment presenting in any other player.

“I’ve never been with a teammate that’s had something like that happen to them,” staff ace Logan Webb said. “It’s scary. But also at the same time I’m happy they were able to find it now.”

Citing a 1999 study in the American Journal of Medicine that found aneurysms of the axillary artery had been “reported with increased frequency” in baseball players, Dr. Nirav Pandya, an orthopedic surgeon at UCSF, said that while it is “definitely not something that is common,” there is some precedent, particularly in pitchers.

“There are some case reports over the years of pitchers getting aneurysms of their axillary artery where the pec muscles compress the artery,” Pandya said, referencing the major vessel that brings oxygenated blood from the chest to the upper arm.

If treated with surgery, Pandya said, the timetable for recovery is typically about three months. In Beck’s case, he would then need to build back up to a starter’s workload, which typically takes all six weeks of spring training.

“I think we got on it pretty quickly,” Melvin said.

Turning his focus to the field, the Giants’ new manager is now staring down a gaping hole in his rotation, which had already sprung a leak with Keaton Winn’s recurring elbow issues. Beck was slotted in to be their fifth starter, behind Logan Webb, Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison and Winn.

“It stinks,” Webb said. “I was super excited for him. I know he was super excited. Leading up to it I’d seen him throw a ton of bullpens and he looked really, really good.”

Sean Hjelle, Mason Black, Daulton Jefferies and Spencer Howard — arguably the top four potential fill-ins — have yet to record a clean outing among them, with Howard tagged for two homers and Hjelle for three runs on four hits in Wednesday’s exhibition loss to the A’s.

That said, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery remain available on the free-agent market.

You don’t have to remind Melvin.

“You think?” he responded when asked if either could help.

Roupp throws live

One pitcher who isn’t likely to be an option when they break camp but could make his debut later this season is Landen Roupp, a 25-year-old right-hander whom the Giants selected in the 12th round out of UNC-Wilmington in 2021.

After a disc injury in his lower back cut his season short in 2023, Roupp faced live hitters Wednesday for the first time this camp, throwing 25 pitches to non-roster catchers Jakson Reetz, Adrian Sugastey and Andy Thomas while the big-league squad was playing the A’s at Hohokam Stadium.

On the basis of his 1.74 ERA over the 10 starts he made at Double-A Richmond, with 42 strikeouts to just nine walks, Melvin singled out Roupp as one of the pitchers he was most intrigued to see this spring, and he finally got his chance.

“He’s got a really good arm,” Melvin said. “It’s an exciting pitcher.”

Roupp’s signature pitch is his curveball, which Reetz said “starts behind the right-handed hitter,” but what caught the catcher’s attention was his two-seam fastball, which sits in the mid-90s and he called “pretty nasty, as well.” The whole package? “I mean, he’s disgusting,” Reetz said.

Along with top left-handed pitching prospect Carson Whisenhunt, who was shut down last season with an elbow injury, Melvin said that Roupp is one of “the guys we’ll probably slow-play a little bit and see how much time they get in spring, based on injuries last year.

“But guys that could be impactful as the year goes along and might be as talented of guys that we have.”

It remains to be seen whether either will see game action this spring, though Roupp said he’s “hoping and praying” the coaching and medical staffs will allow for it.

There is no timetable for Whisenhunt to face live hitters, Melvin said, a necessary step before stepping onto the mound in a game.

Roupp, who ended 2022 with five starts at Double-A in addition to the 10 he made last season, said he hopes to begin the season at Triple-A Sacramento.

“I would love to start in Triple-A, but if I’m healthy and pitching I don’t care,” he said. “I’ll pitch wherever, honestly, but Triple-A is definitely the goal.”

Notable

— RHP Keaton Winn (elbow) and RHP Kai-Wei Teng (oblique) are both targeting bullpen sessions over the weekend. Both pitchers have progressed to throwing from 105 feet off flat ground, according to the club. RHP Alex Cobb (hip) was scheduled to throw a bullpen Thursday.

The storm is expected to bring at least 1½ inches of rain to much of the Bay Area, and perhaps totals in excess of 2 inches in the North Bay and coastal ranges, according to the National Weather Service. The full onslaught for the first showers to reach the region was expected Thursday afternoon or evening.

“We’ve got the cold front knocking on the North Bay’s door,” meteorologist Dalton Behringer said Thursday afternoon. “It’s gonna come on in and then cover the whole region.”

Some rain fell early Thursday, but barely any of it was measurable by noon. Up to one-tenth of an inch fell in Marin County and areas of the Peninsula saw about five-hundredths of an inch.

But more was coming.

“After (the main band) goes through (Thursday), we will have scattered showers into Friday,” Behringer said. ” Then on Friday, we’re going to get another heavier push.”

Weather forecasters also expect at least 5 to 12 feet of snow to fall above 5,000 feet. Authorities urged anyone not already in the mountains not to go and said roads and highways are likely to be shut down.

A blizzard warning issued Tuesday for the Northern and Central Sierra Nevada went into effect at 4 a.m. Thursday and was set to last until 10 a.m. Sunday. The warning affects Lassen and Shasta counties, as well as Lake Tahoe to Tuolumne and Mono counties near Yosemite National Park.

PG&E in a statement said it was pre-staging crews and materials to tackle power outages that the storm may bring and that they are prepared to use helicopters, snowcats and vehicles with four-wheel drive to gain access to areas that need repair. Still, they said customers in remote areas “should prepare for extended outages given the unique circumstances of this storm.”

Early Thursday, widespread power outages affected the west San Jose and Campbell areas from south of Interstate 280  in the Meridian area over to south of I-280 at Bascom and south. Power also went out at one business corner of Hamilton Avenue and Bascom Avenue.

Power outages in Woodside, Redwood City and Campbell also had up to 500 customers in the dark in each of those stories, according to the utility.

The storms have been generated by a large low-pressure system that’s descending from the Gulf of Alaska and bringing cold air with it. Low temperatures are expected to dip daily until they go into the 30s in most places in the East Bay by Saturday night into Sunday morning.

Temperatures are expected to bottom out in the low 40s in San Jose.

The storm also is expected to bring wind gusts that could get as high as 40 mph. A high-surf advisory also is likely, according to the weather service.

Electronic Arts is cutting about 5% of its workforce, or approximately 670 employees, as layoffs in the technology and gaming sector continue after a surge of hiring in recent years.

The video game maker said in a regulatory filing that its board approved a restructuring plan that includes the layoffs, as well as closing some offices or facilities.

The Redwood City, California, company had 13,400 workers globally as of March, 31, 2023, according to a filing.

“While not every team will be impacted, this is the hardest part of these changes, and we have deeply considered every option to try and limit impacts to our teams,” said CEO Andrew Wilson. “Our primary goal is to provide team members with opportunities to find new roles and paths to transition onto other projects.”

He said the layoffs would be largely completed by early next quarter.

The announcement comes just days after Sony said that it would cut about 900 jobs in its PlayStation division, or about 8% of its global workforce. Sony cited changes in the industry as a reason for the restructuring.

The tech sector has been hit hard by layoffs. Microsoft said last month that it would cut nearly 2,000 workers after its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. And Riot Games, the developer of the popular “League of Legends” multiplayer battle game, said in January that it was laying off 11% of its staff.

Still, most large tech companies are much larger now than they were before the pandemic, when hiring surged in the sector.

SAN FRANCISCO — Crowds lined up in San Francisco on Wednesday to see — and smell — the blooming of an endangered tropical flower that releases a pungent odor when it opens once every several years.

An Amorphophallus titanum, also known as a corpse flower, began blooming Tuesday afternoon at the California Academy of Sciences, a research institution and museum.

The plant blooms for one to three days once every seven to 10 years. During the bloom, it releases a powerful smell described by some as rotting food or sweaty socks.

“It’s kind of imitating the smell of kind of a dead carcass to kind of get all the flies to come and interact with it, pick up pollen, and then take that pollen to another flower that it might investigate due to its smell,” said Lauren Greig, a horticulturist, California Academy of Sciences.

It was the first bloom for the corpse flower named Mirage, which was donated to the California Academy of Sciences in 2017. It’s been housed in the museum’s rainforest exhibit since 2020.

Bri Lister, a data scientist who lives in San Francisco, moved some meetings and waited in line for about an hour to catch a whiff of the plant.

“In certain directions, I definitely picked up on the sweaty socks, sweaty gym clothes, but probably luckily not full-on rotting meat, but definitely a smellier plant than average,” Lister said.

Monica Becker took her child out of school to see the flower in person after watching it on the academy’s livestream.

“When we heard it bloomed, we were like, we got it, we got to go, first thing in the morning when they open. So here we are,” Becker said.

The Amorphophallus titanum is native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with only less than 1,000 individual plants left in the wild.

1 WATCH : The ‘Dune’ we deserve

“Dune: Part 2” is finally in theaters and all we can say is, wow!

2 PLAY: Magic mustard season

It’s that time of the year in Napa when mustard blooms cast those rolling hills in a beautiful golden glow — but that’s not the only reason to visit the wine country these days.

3 DINE: Check out an exciting new seafood restaurant

Newly opened Hurrica Restaurant in Redwood City welcomes visitors by land or sea with first-rate seafood and a flashy jellyfish aquarium. We checked it out recently and here are our thoughts.

4 MAKE & SCARF: Umami bombs away

These crispy, healthy and utterly addictive lettuce wraps are so easy and quick to make, you won’t believe your tastebuds.

5 SEE & HEAR: Great shows are all over

From Smuin Ballet reviving two of its greatest hits to a “Magic Flute” in Livermore and free tunes at a beloved old bandshell, there are a lot of great shows and concerts to catch this weekend.

6 WATCH: A ‘Shogun’ for a new generation

James Clavell’s epic and compelling novel has been adapted for TV again, and this version is even better than the classic 1980 one.

7 PLAY: A hot, hot, hot new game

“Helldivers 2” is taking the video game world by storm — here’s why.