After dismal snow totals heading into the new year, 2024 has been kind to Tahoe ski resorts in terms of snowfall.
Mother Nature was especially generous in late January to Feb. 5, dropping 3-5 feet of snow at most Tahoe ski resorts and creating multiple powder days for previously frustrated skiers and snowboarders.
“We received over 5 feet of snow in eight days,” said Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist and manager at the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory, a University of California, Berkeley field research station at Donner Pass in California’s Sierra Nevada. “The snowfall over the last week has been the largest of this season and has helped bulk up our snowpack after a slow start to winter.”
The majority of California was below average for snowfall until this month’s storms provided a major boost. Schwartz says Tahoe is currently at 78 percent of its median snow water equivalent. Exceptional snowfall a year ago at a similar point had Tahoe at 164 percent.
Only one Tahoe ski resort – Sugar Bowl (217) has gone over the 200-inch snowfall mark at its summit for the 2023-24 season. Boreal has 191 inches, followed by Palisades Tahoe and Kirkwood, each with 181 inches.
SEE TAHOE SEASON SNOW TOTALS BELOW
The storm that all Tahoe ski resorts had been waiting for this season arrived last weekend and was still around Monday, providing the region with snow totals between 18-30 inches.
Some Tahoe ski resorts received their biggest dump Saturday (Feb. 3) and others who didn’t were besieged with high snow totals the next day when many resorts had to shut down due to high winds. Northstar California got a whopping 27 inches Sunday and 30 inches for the weekend, the most among Tahoe ski resorts.
Tahoe Donner had a two-day total of 29 inches and Mt. Rose had 28, including 26 inches on a crazy Sunday. Kirkwood, which received 19 inches Sunday, got 50 inches during the past week. After previous disappointing snow totals, Heavenly received 14 inches last Sunday and Diamond Peak had 15.
“It’s a tale of two winters,” said Kevin “Coop” Cooper, a ski resort consultant for the Lake Tahoe region who also represents central Sierra resorts – Dodge Ridge, Bear Valley and China Peak. “If you go back to the 2022-2023 season, we had 30-plus feet of snow, and that’s just at the lake level. We were buried at this time last year, with consistent snow coming well into March.”
Cooper believes the first storms of this season didn’t have enough energy and moved north and south of the Sierras. And the recent set of storms were the first to really hit the area, putting the region “back in the game again.”
He says many Tahoe ski resorts are now running at 100 percent for the first time all season.
“This was the base-builder that we needed for the beginning of February so we can work our way to March,” Cooper said.
TAHOE SEASON SNOW TOTALS (Feb. 10)
- Sugar Bowl: 217 inches
- Boreal: 191 inches
- Palisades Tahoe: 181 inches
- Kirkwood: 181 inches
- Mt. Rose: 177 inches
- Soda Springs: 175 inches
- Sierra-at-Tahoe: 159 inches
- Northstar: 158 inches
- Homewood: 116 inches
- Heavenly: 100 inches
- Diamond Peak: 91 inches
