Lake Tahoe Weather

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Fantastic Mid-Winter Ski and Riding Conditions

: Image via Wikipedia

Lake Tahoe is having a banner snow year and the conditions for all Lake Tahoe resorts could hardly be better. It is obvious why Orbitz declared once again that the Lake Tahoe region is the top destination for their travelers booking air and lodging packages. Lodging numbers are up and skier visits have risen quite dramatically as well. The timing of the stormy patters has also helped with periods of stromy weather and then long breaks of Tahoe’s famous sunshine.

Looking ahead there appears to be even more snow on the way with another El Nino driven jet stream making it’s way across the Pacific. These storms may not be as intense as the storms earlier this month but they do appear to be pretty juicy! Stay tuned.

If you are looking for lodging on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe Pinnacle Lake Tahoe Getaways offers over 68 vacation rental homes, cabins and condos ranging from super-luxury to basic economy-2-7 bedrooms with sleeping arrangements ranging from 4 -18 guests. All units are fully equipped for your stay with all linens provided, a start pack of paper products, soaps and shampoos, nicely equipped kitchens and many featuring other amenities such as Hot Tubs, steam showers, Internet and pool tables. Many of Pinnacle Lake Tahoe Getaway’s unit are pet friendly as well so bring Fido along.

Lake Tahoe Area Traveler’s Stats Revealed by Online Lodging and Vacation Rentals Directory Rentalo.com (prweb.com)
News about Lake Tahoe Finally Available Every Day (prweb.com)
Storm brings blizzard conditions to Sierra (sfgate.com)
Skiing/Snowboarding Trip at Lake Tahoe (dosooye.com)

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Lake Tahoe Weather Forecast-11/12/09

Hi all!

Well I woke up to a good 4 inches of new snow this morning.

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Lake Tahoe Weather Forecast-November 5, 2009

: Image via Wikipedia

Howdy!

I have been very lax about updating the Lake Tahoe weather post but now that we are deep into Autumn and everyone in town is looking up and waiting for those snowflakes to fall I decided I better get back on that horse!

What appeared to be an early Lake Tahoe winter developing in October with record precipitation and some very strong storms has turned into a very warm and dry Indian Summer pattern. Looking down the road it appears the pattern is changing into a somewhat more favorable scenario to get some storms into the Tahoe basin. But it also looks like we might only get brush by precipitation which is not what we need but a major snowstrom or two. Receiving a good storm before Thanksgiving allows the major snow resorts to get up and running and gives a huge boost to the local economies.

I have been down this early season “where is the snow?” road before so I can say with confidence that is way, way too early to freak out yet but some snow dances and pray for snow parties are not a bad idea at this point either.

The long range models still indicate an above average year for snow and that El Nino is still there and developing, Looking at other El Nino years keep in mind that many of those years were very wet and a bulk of the precipitation came later in the year and not earlier. I still think that January, February and March will be very wet if not epic so hang in there Lake Tahoe. It will snow.

UPDATE: Looking at the long range Lake Tahoe weather models it appears there may be a big change which may bring some serious storms into Lake Tahoe and the High Sierra during the November 15-24 period. This is a long way out but it does look better and some of the commercial long range weather companies are pointing to this wetter period as well.

Stay Tuned!

(Burn some ski’s and Boards)

Storm Dumps Snow on Mammoth Mountain, Will Ski Season Open Early? (laist.com)

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Lake Tahoe Long Range Winter Forecast-El Nino Backing Off?

Starting this post has taken some time for me as I have been waiting for over two months to see the latest El Nino numbers. Today it appears that the El Nino that was predicted to become at least a moderate to strong event may in fact not happen at all or be very weak for the entire winter. This does not always mean a non-wet winter and actually the odds for a wetter than normal winter are still in full force. With a La Nina event the driest winters tend to be in store and this is not a La Nina year. In a past post I made mention of the fact that some of the biggest snow years have actually occurred during this exact scenario 1951-2 and 1968-69 being the most recently famous.

My predictions will center on the fact that strong El Nino’s typically bring our precipitation late i.e February through April and that weal El Nino events typically give our winter an early start that then fizzles later in the spring. I think that (with 5 inches of snow on my back deck as I write this) that the winter will be early with good hard storms hitting the Sierra by the middle of November allowing the major Ski and Board resorts to get up and running full tilt by Thanksgiving. The weather should be wet through the Holidays and into late January with major storms battering the Lake Tahoe region until early February. After that all bets are off and I think it will be a warm and dry late winter and early spring. Hope not but that is my thinking.

Here is a list of the biggest Sierra winters and the correlation between El Nino events:

El Niño Winter

2006-2007 / 365 inches
2004-2005 / 562 inches
2002-2003 / 375 inches
1997-1998 / 531 inches
1994 / 661 inches
1993 / 500 inches
1991-1992 / 205 inches
1986-1987 / 212 inches
1982-1983 / 600 inches

Non-El Niño Winter

2008-2009 / 480 inches
2007-2008 / 420 inches
2005-2006 / 650 inches
1995-1996 / 420 inches
1988-1989 / 400 inches

Below is a simple example of the difference between El Nino winter and La Nina winters.

Please read my North Lake Tahoe weather watchers article on his ideas on the similarities of this upcoming winter an the winter of 1951-52

Here is another article on the upcoming winter and predictions

Both of these article argue for an above normal winter with one writer comparing the weak El Nino and some other factors that mirror the epic winter of 1951-52 where all single level and many two stroy homes were literally buried at Lake Tahoe! Maybe that would be too much of a good thing.

Stay Tuned!