In the latest sign that winter is nearly here, officials at Yosemite National Park on Thursday announced that the Tioga Road, a historic route through the Sierra Nevada and the highest-elevation highway in California, is closed for the season due to snow.

Glacier Point Road, on the other side of Yosemite Valley, also is closed for the season.

“We had a few storms early this year that led to temporary closures,” said Jamie Richards, a Yosemite spokeswoman. “They were warm storms, and we were able to clear the snow. The first major snowfall of the year was earlier this week. The current snow and ice conditions are just too hazardous.”

Although Yosemite park, its campgrounds, restaurants and hotels remain open, and other roads in the park are plowed year-round when covered with snow, accumulated snow on the two high-elevation roads can pile many feet high in colder months. As a result, the park closes both of them each winter, and reopens them every spring.

Overall, the Sierra snowpack, a critical water source every year for California’s farms, cities and wildlife, currently reflects the different levels of drought in California. The snowpack in the northern part of the Sierra on Thursday was 85 percent of average, while the central Sierra was at 51 percent and southern Sierra was at 63 percent. Since October, rain and snow patterns have favored Northern California, and brought much less moisture to the middle and southern parts of the state.

One of the marquee drives in America’s national park system, the winding, two-lane Tioga Road bisects Yosemite’s alpine center, passing through meadows and forests of lodgepole pine and juniper. It runs 46 miles from Crane Flat to Tioga Pass, where it crests at 9,945 feet in the highest highway pass in California.

The route for centuries was a footpath for Indians, upgraded to a mining road in 1883 during a brief silver boom, and then a private toll road that charged $2 per horse and rider.

In an unusual act of philanthropy, it became public and part of the park in 1915, when Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service, bought it for $15,000 with his own money and donations from the Sierra Club and the Modesto Chamber of Commerce. He sold it to Congress that year for $10, hoping to bring more tourists into the park.

Park officials closed Tioga Road temporarily this year from Oct. 28 to Nov. 7 after several early strong storms dumped significant snow. Last year, Tioga and Glacier Point roads closed for the season two weeks earlier than this year, on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2. They opened again last May 18 and April 19.

From 1996 to 2015, the average seasonal closure date for Tioga Road has been Nov. 14, with an average opening date of May 26.

“Winter is a beautiful time to come to Yosemite,” said Richards. “The valley and all other roads in and out of the park are open. People should come out and enjoy themselves.”

For 24-hour road and weather information for Yosemite National Park, please call 209-372-0200.