Storm brings major snowfall to Tahoe basin: road closures, avy warning in effect
TAHOE BASIN — Last night’s storm brought significant snowfall to the basin, much to the excitement of those concerned about January’s snow drought. The storm brought major road closures yesterday and will likely cause continued delays through today. Reports suggest the storm brought more than 40″ of new snow to Mt. Rose and Diamond Peak ski resorts, and over 30″ to most other Tahoe ski resorts.
“Overall, it looks like a pretty good weekend to enjoy the snow,” says Reno National Weather Service meteorologist Wendell Hohmann.
“Getting to the Tahoe area today is still going to be hazardous. We do still have the Winter Storm Warning in effect until 10 p.m.,” says Hohmann. “If anyone needs to get up to Tahoe, they should check the latest road conditions before they go. Certainly slow-downs are still going to be an issue.”
As of 8:30 a.m. today, major chain controls are in place on Highway 50, 80 and 89. Highway 89 “is closed from 3.4 mi north of the Jct of US 50 to Bliss State Park.Emerald Bay in [El Dorado County] due to snow,” according to Caltrans. “Motorists are advised to use an alternate route.”
According to Tim Bardsley, a service hydrologist with the National Weather Service, yesterday’s storm leaves the Tahoe snowpack in a much better place than it was a week ago.
“We’d fallen quite a bit behind in January, when we had a 23-or-so day dry spell,” says Bardsley. “In the last 24 hours we went from 75% of the median snowpack for this time in January to 94%,” making yesterday’s storm an important one for this year’s overall snowpack.
Snowfall at many of the resorts has been significant, especially at elevation. OpenSnow.com is reporting 26 to 31 inches of snowfall at Heavenly, Kirkwood and Sierra-at-Tahoe, and 35 inches or more of new snow at resorts in North Tahoe.
OpenSnow has put Mt. Rose and Diamond Peak ski resorts at more than 40″ for storm totals over the past 2 days.
The Sierra Avalanche Center has a high alert warning out for areas not under direct avalanche mitigation programs. Proceed with caution in remote areas.
Anna Kristina Moseidjord is a reporter for the Tahoe Daily Tribune and Sierra Sun.
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