A Blizzard Warning is in effect for the Tahoe Sierra until tomorrow morning. Heavy snow driven by high wind has created whiteout conditions on area highways and forced I-80 in the heavy snowbelt to remain closed all day. Placer County Emergency Services is doing robo-calls to alert residents that travel on regional roadways is highly discouraged except for critical needs only. And for the third day in a row, most Tahoe ski resorts remained shut down due to flood danger followed by overwhelming snowfall and avalanche concerns.
Flood-related damage is being reported all over Northern California and Western Nevada due to heavy rain in preceding days, but despite concerns main stem river flows on the Truckee, Carson and Walker rivers did not reach the destructive level they achieved during similar conditions in 2005-06. Certainly not even close to the catastrophic New Year's Flood of 1997. And now, snow levels have dropped and reduced flow issues in Nevada. I will revisit the mid-winter flood history of our regional rivers in a future Nugget.
Snow began to pile up in Carnelian Bay last night with heavy snow all day today.
Picked up close to 5 feet of snow in the past 30 hours here at the Lake. Snow management gets to be a full time job during storms like this!
Today's water vapor satellite image shows the deep plume of moisture being tapped by this Atmospheric River. What it doesn't show is the cold air that infiltrated our onshore flow and lowered snow levels, which began to curb flood potential.
Squaw Valley looked pretty good when I there in mid-December, but the popular KT-22 chairlift was not running due to a lack of cover. Since my visit the upper mountain has picked up an additional 12.5 feet of snow not counting today's blizzard. Once our weather settles down, skiing and snowboarding are going to be epic! Just in time for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday coming this weekend.
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