Lake Tahoe finally got her first real snowstorm of the season this past weekend. 60 inches at 8,200 feet at Squaw.
Before this past weekend, Squaw hadn’t seen more than a smidgin of snow since November 4th, 2011. That’s no real precipitation for 77 days during “ski season”.
Everyone in Tahoe was hoping that the storm door would open with the recent storms and that we’d be enveloped in a vicious cycle akin to what we saw last March…
That, unfortunately, is not our reality. Our storms came through for 4 days, left us with 60 inches, and then just left us. Noaa.gov is now telling us that we’ll be experiencing another dry pattern for the rest of the month.
“Dry conditions are expected to return for the remainder of the month...” – noaa.gov
To make matters a touch worse, Tahoe will be experiencing above average temperatures with highs in the 50s and high 40s all week long. The snow we waited for so long for will be leaving early.
Where is the jet stream? In the Pacific Northwest & Northern Rockies, again.
Where are the storms? In the Pacific Northwest & Northern Rockies, again.
When will Tahoe get its next storm? Hopefully soon, but some are talking about the 2nd week in February.
“The Euro [a forecast model] shows a big ridge setting up over Alaska and Western Canada starting around the 5th with storms starting to come underneath into the West Coast for the 2nd week of February.” – TahoeWeatherDiscussion.com
The 2nd week of February is a long time from now. About 14+ days from now, as a matter of fact. We’re really hoping that something happens before then.
The bright side is that there has never been a better season to go on a ski trip somewhere new. Japan, Europe, & B.C. are still the best options right now.
What trips are you considering?
How do you think this year will end up in Tahoe?