Although storm is dropping huge amounts of snow today at Lake Tahoe ski resorts, it wasn’t being utilized much for skiing and snowboarding thanks to blizzard conditions.
After every Tahoe-area ski resort was shut down the past two days due to large amounts of rain, high winds and poor road conditions, the same situation developed today (Jan. 10), when snow replaced the rain, resulting in many Lake Tahoe ski resorts shutting down for the day, but vowing to hopefully open Wednesday.
Snow conditions that moved into the Tahoe Basin on Monday will likely stick around
through most of this week, with the heaviest snowfall expected
Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) in Reno.
The NWS says 2 to 5 feet of snow could fall at lower levels and 4 to 8 feet could
drop at elevations greater than 7,000 during the duration of the
storm, which is set to last through Wednesday night and into Thursday
morning.
Wind will likely cause blowing snow and visibility problems, especially on
mountain passes, with speeds ranging from 15 to 25 mph and gusts as
strong as 45 mph. Wind gusts could be as strong as 60 mph.
Both Highway 50 and Interstate 80, the main corridors in and out of Lake Tahoe, have been shut down for large portions of time today.
Sugar Bowl ski resort is closed for a third straight day due to the closure of I-80, high winds and low visibility associated with the blizzard currently moving
through the Lake Tahoe region.
The resort, located off I-80 at the Norden exit, is reporting a 44 inches of snow from the storm total so far, with 20 inches falling in the last 24 hours alone. The snow continues to stack up today, and Sugar Bowl plans to reopen as soon as conditions permit.
Homewood Mountain Resort, located on Lake Tahoe’s west shore, had received 27 inches of snow by this morning at its upper elevations and it continues to fall fast. Hoping to open several lifts, Homewood was only been able to open a few surface lifts and no chairs.
Three Vail Resorts – Northstar, Heavenly, Kirkwood – were also hit hard with snow. By noon today Heavenly was reporting 48 inches over the previous 24 hours. Northstar, which was open and offering five lifts and 14 runs, got 36 inches and Kirkwood was reporting 23.
Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows were both closed, along with Mt. Rose. Sierra-at-Tahoe reportedly had two lower lifts running at noon today.
