Looks like one is brewing and one hopes it is just wet enough for great skiing yet dry enough to keep Parkway flooding and the bank scouring that weakens levees to a minimum.
It's snow time at ski resorts
Shift in weather allows Sierra slopes to open in advance of the holiday.
By Matt Weiser - Bee Staff Writer Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Most Tahoe ski resorts expect to open well before the Thanksgiving holiday, thanks to the season's first solid blanket of snow over the weekend and another 5 to 10 inches expected today.
Leading the pack, as it usually does, is Boreal Mountain Resort atop Donner Summit, which planned to start up one chairlift today. Others, including Heavenly, Squaw Valley and Boreal's sister resort, Alpine Meadows, hope to open Friday.
Northstar plans to open Saturday, with Sierra-at-Tahoe likely to follow.
But some people are not waiting for chairlifts, said Rachael Woods, public relations manager for Alpine Meadows and Boreal.
"We have so many people just craving snow," she said. "There are people out there walking around with snowboards and skis, making turns. They're just walking up the mountain."
The National Weather Service declared a snow advisory through 4 p.m. Monday for the northern Sierra Nevada. Up to 10 inches of snow was predicted above 6,000 feet through 4 a.m. today. A winter weather advisory was also in effect as a warning to travelers.
The Blue Canyon area along Interstate 80 had already received about 3 inches of snow by noon Monday, said Jared Leighton, a meteorological technician at the weather service…
…The National Weather Service says a moderate El Niño is in force this winter. It predicts a 33 percent chance for above-normal precipitation in California from Marysville southward through March.
