Record Snowpack, April 2023, 59+ Feet

 The current official measurements detail what we already know. We've got serious snow. In some places, more than they've ever measured.

Department of Water Resources measuring the snow at Phillips, near Echo Summit.

Now that warmer temps have the snowpack beginning to shrink and subside, put a measuring stick in the ground anywhere near Tahoe - our yard, or up on the mountains - you'll still find 10 - 15 feet of snow. More, as you get near the Sierra Crest. The snow walls on the side of Hwy 50 at Echo Summit are 12+ feet high.

The UC Berkeley Snow Lab up on Donner Summit says we've gotten 715 inches of snow over the course of this season. That's over 59 feet of white stuff. No wonder our house is still buried.

Read all about it.

Berkeley Snow Lab:

https://cssl.berkeley.edu/

California Department of Water Resources:

https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2023/April-23/Snow-Survey-April-2023

Whoa, What A Lot Of Snow

 On one side of our house, we access our house through a near tunnel. We step and slide down a vertical wall of snow 15 feet deep.

The other three sides of our house are completely buried.

It's not just that the snow is higher than the second floor. The snow blanket goes across the ground in an even slope up to the top of the roof, windows and skylights buried. You could snowshoe from the street to the top of the roof. 

If you were to snowshoe out into the yard and step off those snowshoes just fifteen feet from the house, you would sink down over your head and not be seen again until sometime in spring.

I love the "water in the bank" that the snowpack provides. But now I'm ready for summer.

The Washington Post Says Tahoe Got 12 Feet In One Week

We keep making the national news.

Another storm will be in process when this gets posted Sunday, March 5th. Do we have enough snow? Yes.

How do I know? Several ways.

We have a shed where we store shed stuff. It has a gable roof, the top of which is about 14 feet high. From some angles, the peak of the shed roof is just a raised, snowy ridge in the yard. However, where the driveway is plowed near one end of the shed, the top of the roof peeks out.

As you can see in this photo, I won't be getting anything out of that shed until May. Or June. We've been in Tahoe 32 years. Some of those years have had a lot of snow. But we've never seen this much.

Another reason I know we've had enough snow is that the house is buried up to the second floor. The windows that look out on the deck have a view of nothing but a vertical wall of snow that I hope doesn't avalanche down and break those windows. I remember what it's like to grill pizza on the deck in the sun, but only just barely. 

Yet another way I know we've had enough snow, is that the National Drought Monitor has decided that our part of California no longer has a drought. (The white areas on the map.)

Check it out: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

A good thing, this major snow season. Now I'm ready for uninterrupted sunshine. 

Vacationers, Count Your Blessings

 Snow is fun to play in. Epic snow even more so. And if you're staying in lodging with a wood fireplace, it's nearly perfect.

For Tahoe locals, those things have to be maintained, and it ain't always easy.

Our wood stove chimney pipe has been ripped off the roof three times in one month. Thank you "Epic Snow" for sliding down a very steep roof.

Each time, I snowshoe up onto the roof to fix it. Yes, you read that correctly. We live in an especially snowy part of Tahoe, and the snow is up to the second floor and higher in some places.

I strap on my tool belt, grab a metal shovel, and slog my way through bottomless snow and up onto the roof to try to shovel out the area where the brackets that support the stove pipe have torn off the roof. All the while, I'm trying to gauge which way I'm going to dive if the snow above me decides to avalanche down on me. I even keep my phone in my pocket with the location setting turned on in case I end up under 10,000 pounds of snow with broken bones. My lame idea being that if I get buried, I might still be able to reach my phone and dial 911. Ha ha.

Each time I reattach the chimney, I use beefier lag screws and brackets. Each time, I hope maybe this time the chimney will stay put until summer when I can redesign the entire support bracing.

You may be thinking, why not just call in a roofing contractor to fix it? I have. They don't have a good system for custom chimney supports. And they're too busy with worse problems, like roofs that have been caved in by falling trees that collapsed under the epic snow load.

In the meantime, we'll double check that the chimney is solidly in place before we light a fire. We won't light a fire during a storm when snow is accumulating. And once it accumulates, we won't light a fire until we clear the roof near the chimney.

 And, of course, we always keep two fire extinguishers nearby.

But hey, Epic snow is great.

Big Snow Still Isn't A Record?

 One of the significant measurements of this season's snowfall so far (November to mid-January) says the Tahoe Basin has gotten 30 feet of snow.

No small thing, that!

What's interesting to me, is that amount isn't a record. Just another mid-season measurement in a very snowy place!

We're eager for a period of sunny days to get streets cleared up.

But come another week or so, we'll be ready for more. 

Bring it on...

Too Much Snow

 Other places in California have too much water. The rivers can't carry it away fast enough, so it floods.

In Tahoe, we have too much snow. The snowplows push it into huge berms. Then the rotary plows shoot it into dump trucks. Long lines of dump trucks. But they can't carry it away fast enough. So the streets clog up.

We have many neighborhoods where there are only a few narrow one-lane paths. They produce gridlock because cars can't fit by each other in the street.

The snow is pretty, and it is wonderful to ski on and play in. It is also wonderful that we are building up a decent snowpack.

But we're hoping for a break in the weather so we can clear it away.

If you come to Tahoe before that happens, you may be profoundly disappointed. As a 32-year local, my recommendation is to wait.

Bring It On

The last storm left 3 feet on the walkway and almost 4 feet in the yard where it is shaded and wind-sheltered and the snow doesn't sink down so fast.

As this gets posted on Sunday morning, we'll be in the middle of what could be the biggest snow so far in the season. 3 more feet or so? One weather report said it was within the realm of possibility that we get 5 feet above 7000 feet (which is usually what we get at our house).

Hard to shovel but fun to play in. And so very pretty.

Here's hoping the Earth mother keeps it up.

What A Sight On The Summer Solstice

From several places in South Lake Tahoe, you can look south and see Round Top mountain, which is near Hope Valley, Caples Lake and Kirkwood. I was there on June 21st.

At 10,400 feet, there was still too much snow to easily climb without micro spikes.

Caples Lake is 7800 feet. The wind coming across it was cold!

I love the way no matter what time of the year, you can always hike to snow in Tahoe.

First Storm, Heavy Snow

By the end of today, the weather forecast has us receiving up to 13 inches of snow. Am I so glad because it begins the accumulation of our snow pack? Or because it eliminates our fire danger? Or is it simply that it distracts from the ongoing political circus in Washington??!!...