“So that’s why, it’s like, celebrate the moment now, that we got some good precipitation. “Because we have this limited window for everything to work, if it gets disrupted, we don’t have the ability to make it up,” Anderson said. That’s because most of the state’s precipitation falls in December through February - making the next couple months critical, in terms of snowpack accumulation. But it won’t mean much for the state’s drought unless more storms keep coming, said Anderson, the state climatologist. That put it within striking distance of the snowiest December since at least 1970, when the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Laboratory began keeping records, according to Andrew Schwartz, the lab’s station manager and lead scientist. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)Ī dumping of 2 feet of snow Thursday into Friday morning left the top of Donner Pass with 119 inches of snow so far this month. OLYMPIC VALLEY, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 24: The Red Dog ski lift at Palisades Tahoe carries Christmas Eve snowboarders and skiers in Olympic Valley, Calif., Friday, Dec. As of a couple days before Christmas, it stood at 102% and rising fast. Just two weeks ago, it stood at 19% of normal. It led to one of the worst wildfire seasons on record, and the first two instances in recent memory of fires starting on one side of the Sierra, and ending on the other.ĭespite an unusually snowy October, a month-and-a-half of extremely dry weather left snowpack in the Sierra at perilously low levels. The issue was compounded by the fact that California also registered its third-warmest stretch during those same two years. 30, 2021 ranked as the driest two-year stretch on record in California, according to Michael Anderson, California’s state climatologist. Lately, that snow has been harder to come by. “This happens - we wish it happened more, actually.” “We got a lot of buzzwords these days - you know, atmospheric river, and this and that - but it’s a pretty typical Tahoe storm,” said Paul Cohen, a ski coach at Palisades Tahoe for 26 years. In Tahoe basin, enduring winter storms is considered both a test of personal mettle and a chance for lucrative business. OLYMPIC VALLEY, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 24: Snow is shoveled from the roof of a service building at Palisades Tahoe in Olympic Valley, Calif., during a Christmas Eve snowstorm, Friday, December 24, 2021. And longtimers often recall epic, 12-foot snow totals. Resort crews shovel not only sidewalks but the roofs of some buildings to keep them from collapsing. Here, the sound of dynamite blasting avalanches off the slopes of ski areas double as an alarm clock. This is, after all, a place regarded as among the snowiest in the nation. That’s in addition to a thick blanket of snow that, atop Donner Pass, totaled nearly 3 feet from Tuesday through Friday morning.įor many longtime locals, the storm itself isn’t too remarkable. And 5 to 6 feet could fall on Echo, Carson and Ebbetts passes, according to the National Weather Service. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)įorecasters say at least five feet of snow - possibly more than 8 - could fall on Donner Pass and Lassen Park through Wednesday. OLYMPIC VALLEY, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 24: Cheryl Varner, 70, known as “KT Cheryl” because she’s always first in line at Palisades Tahoe’s KT-22 ski lift, prepares to hit the slopes Christmas Eve, Friday, December 24, 2021, in Olympic Valley, Calif. “This is as big a present as you can get,” said Varner, 70, who has been on the first chair up Palisades Tahoe’s ski lifts nearly every day for the last 25-plus years. And for a region internationally known for its alluring slopes and epic snowfall, the prospect of a white Christmas brought a sense of palpable relief this week. Luckily, Christmas came early this month.Ī series of recent storms pounding the Sierra Nevada mountains have offered a welcome respite from fears of a repeat, bone-dry winter that threatened to leave the area parched and prone to fire. She preferred the cold, snow-bitten pleasure of nabbing the first chair up Palisades Tahoe’s slopes - much as she’s done at the same lift here for nearly three decades. OLYMPIC VALLEY - Six weeks ago, Cheryl Varner’s mornings were too warm, too sunny and too boring.
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