Christmas holiday skiing and snowboarding plans at Tahoe ski resorts have been greatly impacted due to quite a bit of rain.
Caused by above freezing-level temperatures, the rain continued at most Tahoe ski resorts Friday and into early Saturday morning (Jan. 31).
But there was some good news. The rain had turned to snow at higher elevations Saturday in the Lake Tahoe region, setting up what resorts hope will be a powder day to bring in the New Year on Sunday.
The heavy snowfall that began Saturday will likely continue into the evening, ending Sunday morning. By New Year’s Day, there could be 3 feet of new snow at some Tahoe ski resorts.
However, the rain mixed with snow is forecasted to continue through next week, making Sunday likely the best day for skiing and riding in the near future.
“After quite a bit of rain over the past few days, it’s snowing heavily here (Saturday) at Palisades Tahoe,” said Palisades spokesperson Patrick Lacy, no doubt echoing the thoughts of all Tahoe ski resorts. “Surprise! The snow levels reached 7,000 feet around 5 am and dropped to the base around 6 am, about 12 hours faster than the models were showing the last few days.”
Conditions have been extremely challenging during the Christmas holidays in Tahoe. The rain has created ice droplets that freeze instantly upon contact with a surface, impacting chairlifts, lift lines, terminals, and other areas like signage. Tahoe ski resorts have had to manually break all the ice off each chairlift before they can run – no easy task after a wet storm.
High winds and whiteout conditions have also been prevalent over the past week. And Saturday should be no different, leading to this piece of advice on the Mt. Rose ski resort website. “DRESS for the Weather = Gore-Tex & Goggles.”
MINIMAL LIFTS OPEN SATURDAY: High winds and icy conditions at base elevations were prevalent, creating havoc for Tahoe ski resorts. Many of them were offering only limited terrain due to the difficult weather conditions.
Getting impacted the most were Heavenly and Sierra-at-Tahoe. Both South Lake Tahoe ski resorts announced by mid-morning Saturday they were closed for the day.
Heavenly offered this Twitter message for skiers and riders. “Heavenly will be CLOSED for the day. Multiple power lines down on the mountain. Crews on mountain continuing snow mitigation work. We are working with the utility companies to fix power issues as well. Nevada (side) and Gondola may be closed tomorrow as well.”
Sierra announced the bad news on its website. “The snow has been coming down hard, which we love. But due to such a high volume of precipitation (rain) and snow within a short period of time, it has caused some safety issues on the roads. Highway 50 now has closures in place (Pollock Pines to Meyers), so we are shutting down operations for today (Dec. 31).”
Heavy rain and snowfall Saturday made travel to the Lake Tahoe region treacherous. Caltrans closed Highway 50 and multiple spinouts on Interstate 80 shut down eastbound traffic in the afternoon at Emigrant Gap.
Also experiencing closures were Highway 89 along the west side of Lake Tahoe and State Route 88, also known as Carson Pass Highway (that serves Kirkwood), due to avalanche concerns.
SNOW DUMP: Despite the frequent rain, several Tahoe ski resorts do have some impressive snow totals at higher elevations by Saturday morning.
Located on the West Shore, Homewood received the most snow among Tahoe ski resorts, reporting 22 inches. Heavenly wasn’t far behind, getting 18 inches at higher elevations. Mt. Rose got 14 inches, Sugar Bowl had 9 and Northstar received 7 inches.
However, most Tahoe ski resorts were sadly reporting low totals. Boreal had 3 inches, Kirkwood received 4 and Palisades recorded 5 inches.
On Monday, a weaker storm could drop up to 8 inches of snow at Tahoe ski resorts, followed by a more powerful winter weather storm later in the week that could produce another 3 to 4 feet.
SEASON SNOW TOTALS: Tahoe ski resorts will emerge from this series of storms, that will continue into early January, with its snowpack in great shape.
While the frequent rain due to high temperatures in the region has been disappointing, the season snow totals at Tahoe ski resort continue to rise and are among the most at U.S ski resorts.
One Tahoe ski resort has reached the 200-inch mark and several other ones are getting close to that figure. With snow in the forecast through next week, many more resorts should surpass 200 inches.
Boreal had 3 more inches by Saturday morning, giving it 200 inches for the season, the most of any Tahoe ski resort. With 25 inches over the past week, Sierra-at-Tahoe has 197 inches for the 2022-23 season. Palisades also reached the 197-inch mark Saturday, thanks to 34 additional inches over the past week.
Mt. Rose has 189 inches for the season, Northstar has 171, and both Heavenly and Homewood are at 167 inches heading into the New Year. Kirkwood isn’t far behind the pair with 165 inches.
