Another Storm Done, More On The Way (Updated)

Go to the Monday update

Our second storm of the season is now done and performed just about as expected. Officially SquAlpine reported 2 inches of new snow at the base and 5 inches at the top. The remote data sensor near the bottom of the Roundhouse lift was a little bit more optimistic, showing 5 inches of new accumulation at the base. That said, the winds were cranking last night, and the base sensor could have picked up some wind drift. It’s probably better to go with the boots on the ground answer.

Any gain of snow is a good thing at this time of year, and as predicted, it was a more stable maritime climate snow. Even better, the storm brought good wetting rains to most of Northern California, which will really minimize fire danger for now.

At the lake level and in Truckee, the storm brought mostly rain. As the storm pushed out over night, clear skies dropped temperatures into the teens. That’s the perfect recipe for developing black ice on roads. Some of Tahoe’s newest locals learned some hard lessons about driving in those conditions. One popular Instagram account noted 10 different people that learned about slick conditions this morning. We saw a few of them around Truckee this morning, one of them quite serious. Baby Yoda does not lie.

That storm for Tuesday? Well it’s back in the forecast, including the possibility of an atmospheric river (AR) connection. The 18Z GFS model shows the possibility of up to two inches of liquid through Wednesday, which would be fantastic with lower snow levels. As of today, the forecast discussion calls for snow levels to start out around 8k to 9k, then dropping to 6k to 7k as the front passes. As with all AR events, it’s all a matter of how quickly the cold air moves in and drops snow levels. Sometimes it works out great…and sometimes not so great. We’ll have to wait and see.

Monday Morning Update

We’re only about 24 hours out on this storm and the models are holding it together as advertised. The precipitation totals amount from 1.5 to 2.5 inches of liquid in the Northern Sierra, depending on which model run you look at. The better news is that we should not see much rain at the ski area level. The snow level forecasts through the storm period should stay near the base level at Alpine Meadows, at times rising a couple of hundred feet higher. What we should not see is a big warm rain, snow melting kind of event. This will be a great opportunity to build base on the upper level of the mountain, allowing more terrain to open sooner.

Looking at the last few model runs, the trough hangs just north of California right through Thanksgiving week and the scheduled opening for SquAlpine. Snowmaking teams have been working aggressively to get Hotter Wheels open to the mid-station at Alpine Meadows and Red Dog and Resort Chair open over the hill. We hope it all comes together. Mammoth opened on Friday, and when friends are posting skiing pictures it is hard to wait for opening day here. I do know I appreciate SVAM holding off on opening to start off with more terrain than the Roo.

We can’t mention enough that the one thing that can bring our season opener to a screeching halt is a COVID shutdown. The good news is that we could realistically see a vaccine available by the beginning of the year. But right now, case numbers are growing daily, hospitalizations are growing daily and deaths are growing daily. We can’t just wait for a vaccine to be available. Act now to reduce the spread if you want to have lift served skiing this season.