The snow was so deep at Palisades Tahoe on Sunday morning that crews were digging out the KT22 lift chairs by hand.
The former Squaw Valley ski resort has received 7½ feet of new snow since Dec. 1. In a 24-hour period from Saturday morning to Sunday morning, Palisades Tahoe got dumped on with more than 35 inches of snow – the sixth largest snowfall total in 24 hours that the resort has on record.
“We got so much snow that we needed to dig out chairs at the top of KT. And we even had to dig out one of our grooming machines by hand,” a blog on the Palisades website stated.
Following nearly 3 feet of snow Sunday morning, Palisades got another 16 inches by daybreak Monday. That brings the resort’s season snow total to 163 inches.
The Palisades storm total was impressive. However, five other Tahoe ski resorts received more snow in the two-day period ending Monday (Dec. 12). Sierra-at-Tahoe got 67 inches, bringing its season total 183, the most among Tahoe ski resorts. Boreal is next with 175 inches.
SEE TAHOE SNOW REPORT BELOW
Despite the huge amount of snow, the weekend was far from ideal. The winds were fierce in the Tahoe region on Saturday and both Interstate 80 and Highway 50 leading into South Lake Tahoe were closed at some point.
At Heavenly, a Saturday video went viral nationally. At the top of Heavenly’s Dipper Express the 100-plus mph winds were violently whipping the chair around like a rag doll. Heavenly’s comment regarding the extreme wind was classic – “This is why resorts put chairs on wind hold.”
Heavenly shut down Saturday and several Tahoe ski resorts were also closed Sunday as its crews battled the onslaught of snow. Of course, the reward came Monday with the first epic powder day of the 2022-23 season.
Located in South Lake Tahoe, Heavenly rarely gets the most snow in the region, yet that’s what happened this weekend. Heavenly was reporting 3 feet of new snow Monday morning after getting 32 inches Sunday. That brought its two-day total 68 inches, the most among Tahoe resorts.
At South Shore, the large snow totals led Monday to roads and school closures, and chain controls. Monday morning three Tahoe area mountain passes – Mount Rose Summit (SR-431), Carson Pass (SR-88) and Echo Summit on U.S. Highway 50 – were closed or on temporarily hold.
WILL SNOW RETURN IN DECEMBER? Following this sizable snowstorm, the downside is there may be no major ones through the rest of the month, according to Chris Smallcomb, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“But the door is not totally slammed shut either,” Smallcomb told the Reno Gazette. “I don’t think any of us right now are in a freakout mode we are going to see a repeat of last year where the atmosphere just shut down in January. Right now, anything is on the table.”
Temperatures are expected to remain cold this week with overnight lows in the single digits. Smallcomb says there is no indication of when the cold snap will subside.
TAHOE SNOW REPORT (Dec. 12)
- Heavenly: 32-36 – 68 inches
- Sierra-at-Tahoe: 45-22 – 67 inches
- Boreal: 54-7 – 61 inches
- Soda Springs: 54-7 – 61 inches
- Homewood: 40-15 – 55 inches
- Northstar: 44-8 – 52 inches
- Palisades: 35-16 – 51 inches
- Sugar Bowl: 41-9 – 50 inches
- Kirkwood: 30-18 – 48 inches
- Tahoe Donner: 42-6 – 48 inches
- Mt. Rose: 39-6 – 45 inches
- Diamond Peak: 42-0 – 42 inches
- Granlibakken: 33-7 – 40 inches
