Some amazing snow totals are taking place this season at Lake Tahoe ski resorts, where the snow is piling up and creating some incredibly high season totals.
The latest batch of storms over the past week hit the Lake Tahoe region hard, leaving behind nearly 6 feet of snow at some resorts, where the snow totals have already exceeded or are nearing record season totals.
The only downside is the weather has often not been conducive for skiing or snowboarding. For instance, more than six Tahoe ski resorts were closed Tuesday due to severe winds and whiteout conditions.
Here’s a look at how the season is faring for three Lake Tahoe ski resorts.
Mt. Rose: The folks at Mt. Rose realized Wednesday that it had already established a new season record for snowfall – 636 inches or 53 feet.
Located in Nevada near Incline Village in Lake Tahoe, Mt. Rose has exceeded its record-season of 1994-95 when it reached 600 inches. The most snow prior to that was 570 inches in 1982-83. And the amazing thing is these totals are only through the first three weeks of February.
The first floor at Mt. Rose was buried in snow Wednesday morning and the second floor is nearly covered as well. The resort’s current base depths are averaging 216 inches.
Winter is far from over. It was snowing at the resort Wednesday and snow is expected to fall four of the next five days. After being closed for two days, Mt. Rose was open Wednesday after an early delay for workers to dig out. The Mt. Rose Highway from Reno reopened today.
Sugar Bowl: It’s been a crazy February. The resort off Interstate 80 at the Norden exit has received 169 inches this month. In the previous seven days, Sugar Bowl got 84 inches or 6 feet of fresh snow.
Season totals are now 620 inches at Sugar Bowl, the oldest ski resort (1939) in the Lake Tahoe region. The last time Sugar Bowl had this large of a snow total by this date was 1983-84. The resort has only exceeded 620 inches for a season total five times, the last one being 2010-11.
Sugar Bowl was open Wednesday with seven lifts, and four more on the schedule pending completion of snow safety work by mountain operations and ski patrol teams.
Snow depths at Sugar Bowl are 237 inches at the summit, and 145 inches at the base of the mountain.
Homewood Mountain: Located in Lake Tahoe’s West Shore, Homewood received more than 5.5 feet of snow this week.
Homewood received 15 inches of fresh snow Monday and has reported snow depths of 201 inches at the summits and 95 inches at the base.
After being closed for several days, Homewood reopened Wednesday after digging out of some huge amounts of snow.
