After three days of pent-up frustration with blizzard-like weather conditions and major travel issues, Mother Nature has lost its fury and now the roads are less treacherous on the way to Lake Tahoe.
On Friday (Feb. 20) skiers and riders were rushing to reach their favorite Tahoe ski resort and experience what is no doubt a fantastic powder day.
“Mt Rose received a very good response at opening for sure. We reached capacity at the Winters Creek parking area for our 8:30 am opening,” said Mt. Rose spokesperson Mike Pierce, whose Tahoe-area resort got 76 inches from the storms. “As of 11:30 this morning we are busy!”
After getting 80 inches in the past four days, Northstar California was also crowded Friday morning, but will likely experience much larger ones this weekend.
“We are seeing a lot of guests wanting to come enjoy the fresh snow. It is busy for a Friday, as we would expect for the conditions and it being “ski week” for Northern California schools,” Northstar spokesperson Dennis Baggett said. “ It is not as busy as weekends, but parking lots were full just before noon.”
SEE TAHOE SNOW REPORT BELOW
How much snow is at Tahoe ski resorts? Tons! In the past four days, six resorts received 90 inches or more, led by the 112 (over 9 feet of snow) at Palisades Tahoe. Also topping the 100-inch mark from Tuesday through Friday were Sugar Bowl (101 inches) and Homewood (100 inches).
“What a storm cycle it’s been at Palisades Tahoe. With all this new snow, we anticipate a very busy weekend ahead,” Palisades Tahoe spokesperson Patrick Lacey said. “Parking reservations at Palisades Tahoe are sold out for the entire upcoming weekend. It’s truly a winter wonderland up here right now.”
Sierra-at-Tahoe was probably the most relieved Tahoe ski resort to see the snow subside sometime Thursday evening. The South Lake Tahoe-area resort was closed from Tuesday through Thursday, a three-day stretch where it was overwhelmed with the snow totals (92 inches) and the on-and-off closures of Highway 50.
“After more than 7 feet of snow (92 inches) from a Sierra storm for the ages, we’re thrilled to be open for skiing and riding today, conditions permitting,” a message on the resort’s website stated.
Every Tahoe ski resort was greatly impacted by the conditions, which were whiteout at times with road closures taking place to complicate skiers and riders trying to get to Tahoe via Interstate 80, Highway 50 and Highway 88 that serves Kirkwood.
Yet no one – skiers or resorts – was complaining about the extreme snow conditions this week. The snowfall was much needed after five weeks of virtually no snow.
According to the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab, as of Friday morning the Tahoe region was sitting at 104% of average snowfall for the season. And there’s a chance of additional snow on multiple days next week.
Bryan Allegretto, a forecaster with OpenSnow, says Friday’s weather should be partly sunny and calm, followed by clouds and sun for the weekend with increasing winds and slightly warmer temperatures.
“Monday we could see a similar weather before the next storm could push in by Monday night and continue into Wednesday with rain and high elevation snow,” Allegretto said. “A drier pattern is expected into the first week of March.”
TAHOE SNOW REPORT (February 17-20)
- Palisades Tahoe: 29-44-21-18 – 112 inches
- Sugar Bowl: 27-26-21-27 – 101 inches
- Homewood: 21-44-25-10 – 100 inches
- Sierra-at-Tahoe: 26-35-18-13 – 92 inches
- Kirkwood: 21-38-12-19 – 90 inches
- Boreal: 30-26-24-10 – 90 inches
- Soda Springs: 26-25-25-10 – 86 inches
- Northstar: 15-40-13-12 – 80 inches
- Granlibakken: 20-34-14-11 – 79 inches
- Mt. Rose: 20-30-14-12 – 76 inches
- Tahoe Donner: 27-32-17-15 – 76 inches
- Diamond Peak: 13-46-8-7 – 74 inches
- Heavenly: 10-40-8-4 – 62 inches
