By Tim Hauserman
The first half of January 2017 has brought copious quantities of snow, rain, and even dense fog to the Tahoe region. It brought crippling power outages, long periods of road closures, but raised the level of Lake Tahoe over a foot. It was a time of seemingly endless snow shoveling, candlelight dinners next to the woodstove, traffic jams and high avalanche danger. Finally, it was an opportunity to enjoy some of the best ski conditions in years…if you were not too sore from all that shoveling to get out and ski.
Hard to believe now that at the end of 2016 the ski resorts were just barely sneaking by with a minimal amount of snow. With the turning of the calendar a fresh set of storms set us up with a deep coating of white. It was a true Goldilocks situation. Enough to open up all the mountains, but not so deep to severely impair travel. Next, unfortunately came what we used to call a Pineapple Express and now call an atmospheric river. Whatever you call it, it’s a lot of rain in a short period. I watched my garage and basement flood. But late in the evening of January 8 the rain changed to snow…and the snow kept coming. Five plus feet at lake level with double that at the higher elevations.
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The real reason the ski resorts were closed…
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That much snow, especially after a drenching rain, causes problems. The two biggies were road closures and the power outages caused by falling trees. When you saturate the ground severely, dump a bunch of wet heavy snow on trees with roots sitting in puddles, and add the piece de resistance of heavy winds: Trees fall on power lines. The groomers at Tahoe Cross Country Ski Area reported having to cut 30 trees off the trails during one night of grooming.
Now with the power back on almost everywhere, and after a few days to get shoveled out…a fresh new set of storms are just hitting the area. The skiing is going to be great, and the lake is going to be full of water…eventually, but first, more tricky roads and crossing fingers that the power stays on.
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THINK OF ME, LYNN RICHARDSON, FOR ALL OF YOUR LAKE TAHOE AND TRUCKEE REAL ESTATE NEEDS!
YOUR FRIEND IN HIGH PLACES 
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