Tahoe Storms Overrated

Amanda Fehd
January 12, 2005

Contrary to the barrage of national media reports, the latest winter storms are, historically, no big deal.

Let's set the record straight: Although the past two back-to-back storms created mountains of snow in the Lake Tahoe Basin, the official data shows it wasn't a precedent-setting amount.

"From what we've seen at the Sierra Storm Lab at Donner Summit, no records have been broken," said Gina Beninato, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Reno.

The National Weather Service does not have an official snow measurement station in South Lake Tahoe, so no official amounts were tracked here. However, Simon Smith, a weather spotter for the National Weather Service says the Dec. 28 to Jan. 11 amount adds up to 106.5 inches of snow, or 8.88 feet.

The storm that began Thursday and officially ended Tuesday brought the South Shore 51.5 inches or 4.3 feet of snow. The storm that began on Dec. 28 and ended Jan. 3 brought 55 inches, or nearly 4.6 feet. The record for a single storm was Jan. 10 to Jan. 17 of 1952, when South Lake Tahoe received 12.8 feet, or 153.6 inches of snow, records show.

"They (the national news media) are mixing it up, in my opinion, to create a better story," Simon said. "No records were broken in South Lake Tahoe."

The record for continuous snowfall in the region is 180 inches in 1981-82 at Donner Summit, where the Central Sierra Snowlab - which measures snow throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin - is located. These storms have produced 155 inches of accumulation at Donner Summit since Dec. 27, 2004.

Mark McLaughlin, a Tahoe weather historian and author, concurred that much of what was said was hype.

"No Sierra snowfall records are in danger of being broken," said McLaughlin. His Web site, www.thestormking.com, lists records and major weather events of the Sierra.

"This is only two snow storms up here, and while exceptional, they aren't record breakers," McLaughlin said. "The fact that they were back to back puts them in an interesting category, but it's still not breaking records. It's wonderful, I love it, and it's a good start."

No records have been broken any way you look at it: for continuous snowfall, for one storm, for the most in a 24-hour, 36-hour, or 72-hour period, or for a 15-day period, most in a month or most in one season.

Gary Barbato, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Reno, suspects the confusion has come from the difficulty in getting consistent snow measurements. Snow depth can change rapidly from warming temperatures, rain or compaction. If the snow is measured every 24 hours, every six hours, or every hour, recorded depth levels will be different.

Some ski resorts do measure every hour but may not record decreases, Barbato said.