Palisades Tahoe Passes 200 Inches On The Season
Palisades Tahoe, CA, is in the midst of a Winter Storm Warning, Avalanche Warning, High Winds Warning, and Flood Warning. But the bright side? All the new snow.
Officials at the resort write that the "upper mountain received 6" of new snow overnight! Our lower elevations saw a mix of rain and then snow, for a wet 2" of snow down at the Palisades Base."
"Our season snow total is at 209", and we'll likely pick up another foot or so before the end of this storm!"
Monday, the upper mountain was closed due to the weather, but the long weekend saw an abundance of refills on that ever-growing base layer.
The latest snow report from Brian Allegretto reports that "as of 5 AM Monday morning, 2 inches of wet snow were measured at the base and 6 inches on the upper mountains. The SNOTEL sensor had 7 inches on it at the top of the mountain and we saw 100 mph winds overnight, so a bit more snow likely fell than what was measured, with pockets of deeper snow."
SNOTEL sensors use meteor burst communications technology to collect and communicate data in near-real-time. VHF radio signals are reflected at a steep angle off the ever-present band of ionized meteors existing from about 50 to 75 miles (80 to 120 km) above earth.
Allegretto accurately predicted that the ridgetop winds would be strong for Monday "likely keeping some upper mountain lifts closed." (That one certainly came true.)
"We could see fewer showers with a bit of a lull on Tuesday as the low moves north away from the region. The winds come down through the day and highs are still in the 30s. Then Tuesday night we could see a final wave of steadier showers move through that diminishes into Wednesday morning, and we clear into Wednesday afternoon. Highs are still in the 30s. Snow levels could continue to fluctuate between 5000-7000 ft."
Throughout this period, the snow will be wet and heavy, with potential rain at the base of the mountain.
"We could add around 4-8 inches of additional snowfall near the base by Wednesday afternoon, 7-12 inches near mid-mountain, and 9-14 inches on the upper mountain. Around 2/3rds of the forecasted amounts are expected by early Tuesday morning, and the rest mostly falls Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning."
Things are looking strong for this season: surpassing 200 inches is no small feat. While last year was an outlier, with the resort seeing over 700 inches over the season, there were years where the resort saw less than 200 inches over the entire season, (like in 2019-2020, with 148 inches of total snowfall, and 2014-2015 seeing 193 inches over the whole season) so getting past that milestone in February is huge.
Regardless of the fact that this particular storm may not be champagne powder, snow is snow. 14 fresh inches makes for a bonafide powder day in anyone's book.
Related: This Area of Utah Has The Potential To Have Their Wettest February In 50 Years
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