GREATER LAKE TAHOE AREA, Calif./Nev. – The approximately four-day storm that started on leap day provided enough snow to push area snowpacks just above normal for the first time this winter. The storm outranked all four-day storms since 1981, with only three having a higher four day gain than this blizzard.

“Over the years there have certainly been longer duration events or back-to-back storms that caused far greater snow water increases,” but the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service explains the rate of increase over just four days indicates the storm intensity for this blizzard “was among the strongest on record.” 

It pushed the Lake Tahoe Basin snowpack to 101% of the median, and Truckee Basin to 105%. These snowpacks in the eastern Sierras have come a long way since the 44% pack on Jan. 1, the sixth lowest for that date since 1981, but the service says it still has a small ways to go to reach normal spring time peaks.

“We need another 2-3 inches of snow water added to the snowpack for these basins to reach peak values in these basins,” Jeff Anderson with the service says. That’s about 2-3 feet of snowfall. He explains one big atmospheric river storm or a couple smaller storms would do the job.

Other Nevada snowpacks continue to lead the eastern Sierras with 133-138% of median and have already exceeded peak amounts.

These snowpack percentages compare the amount of water locked in this year’s snow to the 30-year period between 1991-2020.