That's what's fallen so far this winter at the Mount Rose ski area near Reno. They got 4 new feet yesterday. Drought's over.


Avalanche buries mountain highway between Reno, Lake Tahoe
By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press Feb 21, 2017
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Another winter storm pummeled the Sierra Nevada with 3 feet of snow on Tuesday, triggering an avalanche that buried a major highway near Lake Tahoe and dumping record-breaking rain on Reno for the second consecutive day.

Up to another foot of snow was possible overnight with winds gusting up to 100 mph over the ridgetops above Lake Tahoe, where a winter storm warning remained in effect until 4 a.m. Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.

Flood watches and warnings continued into Wednesday along the Sierra's eastern front along the California line north of Reno and across much of northern Nevada along the Interstate 80 corridor from Winnemucca to Elko. In Elko County, gusty winds ahead of the cold front topped 65 mph near Jarbidge along the Idaho line and Great Basin National Park on the Utah line.

No injuries were reported but the storm snarled traffic during the Tuesday morning commute in Reno and Sparks, and forced the closure of Interstate 80 over the top of the Sierra in whiteout conditions. Two motorists had to be rescued from stalled vehicles in high water Tuesday morning after they drove around barriers near the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno.

More than 4 feet of new snow was recorded Monday night and Tuesday at the Mount Rose ski resort southwest of Reno, where a record 52 feet of snow has fallen this season.

"The conditions are fierce," said CalTrans area superintendent Dave Wood, who was helping crews respond to a series of spinouts Tuesday on I-80 near Donner Pass west of Truckee, California. The interstate opened for a few hours at midday, but was closed in both directions again Tuesday evening west of Reno. Tire chains were mandatory on any highways that remained open over the mountain passes.

Nearly an inch of rain (.91) fell Tuesday at Reno-Tahoe International Airport, breaking the old record of .75 set in 1936 on the heels of a record 1.05 inches Monday, the weather service said. Reno has already received more rain since Jan. 1 than it normally does in an entire year — more than 8.6 inches compared to the annual average of 7.4.

The Mount Rose Highway connecting Reno to Lake Tahoe remained closed after an avalanche sent a wall of snow 20 feet deep cascading down onto the highway about 9:15 p.m. Monday.

Avalanche warnings continued into Wednesday for much of the Sierra. Officials at Liberty Utilities said that threat slowed crews' response to hundreds of power outages west and north of Tahoe on Tuesday.

The immediate threat of significant flooding subsided late Tuesday around Reno and Carson City as well as rural counties to the south and east.

Must be part of that storm that's comin' here starting Thursday night and on into Friday.

Supposed to get 5-8"++ here before it's over..

That, is a LOT, of snow.
Better get Al Gore on that right now!

I am living it. Most precipitation I have ever seen in my life for a winter, and I have lived in Coeur d'Alene, Meridian, Moscow, and Ketchum Idaho.

skiers on the lift must be dragging their skis!

Just finished a book about the DONNER party and the winter they were stranded< that is almost twice as much snow as that winter, and that was never before heard of back at that time!!!!! would unbelievable to see it!!!!!!

I'm happy to hear it for those areas.

I wish Lake Mead would fill up.

Absolutely!

Ed

We can see the 10k peaks in the Jarbidge Wilderness Area from the house. We got some pretty stiff winds yesterday from this but nothing nearly as high as that. The rain & snow stayed south of us, too.

I understand that a lot of the rain will just run off, but does the snow normally melt slow enough to actually soak into the ground?

I can only imagine what those snow and rain levels could do to replenish the aquifers if it could get down there.

Ed

We always get the short end of the stick when it comes to precipitation. Colorado Springs is in the rain shadow of Pikes Peak so we get only 10" or 12" of rain annually. Much of the Front Range is the same. The West Coast mountains, the Midwest, and East Coast can get a ton of moisture, like this year, and we will get very little. The snow pack in the Rockies is at 170% of average and that's where our water come from.

I talked to a friend in Wisconsin yesterday. He's a lumberjack and temps are too warm to get his trucks into the marshy woods to cut.

Yep. We need to get Al Gore on this right away.

KC

Can't even imagine what the poor railroad is going through trying to keep the line over Donner Pass open!

The ground is completely saturated. Having said that, the ground water level here in Carson City is typically only a couple feet down. The Truckee Meadows, in Reno is very similar.
Most of Reno's water comes from Lake Tahoe / Truckee River. Lake Tahoe is currently above it's natural rim, and within 3' of it's legal limit. And there is a pile of snow in the Tahoe Basin.
Carson City's water comes from a couple of alpine lakes, above Lake Tahoe, as well as wells drilled in the valley floor. Again, there is a lot of snow above the Carson Valley basin, as well.

Runoff goes to the valley floors, and then into the aquifers. We have a range and basin topography, no where for water to go but into lakes or sinks, and into the ground.

You know, there was an awful lot of cloud seeding, that was done by various Water Boards, throughout the drought stricken West, right up through December.
I'm not adequately knowledgeable about cloud seeding procedures, the mechanisms, what makes it all work to be successful. Hence, I wonder.

There was a lot of snow that year but most of their problems were self inflicted by dinking around all summer, making wrong choices, and not getting over the mountains soon enough. Looking back, it's easy to see that the Hastings cut-off was a really dumb choice but at the time they thought it would save them time.

2 years ago we went over Donner Pass in January on bare ground. There was no snow at all. Coming back a few days later, we drove all the way around Lake Tahoe and did some sightseeing on bare, dry ground. That was unheard of for Jan. It's sure making up for it this year.

My hunting partner's son is a meteorologist. He works for a private weather consulting firm in Salt Lake. In the winter, much of his work is cloud seeding. They use some kind of canons that shoot tiny particles of silver iodide (several other chemicals are also used) in the air. It draws water out of the clouds and ice crystals form on the particles. When they get heavy enough, they fall as snow. The humidity and temperature have to be just right for it to work. He constantly studies weather patterns to choose the right conditions. I don't think they've had a lot of business this winter.

Not unusual for that piece of country. Lots of bucks made up there shoveling roofs.

I understand that in Valdez Alaska they call that a light winter.....

That's a lot of snow. Any of that going to make it to Lake Meade???

my dad built ski lifts and jumps for the 60 Olympics, and if my memory is right the year before we had to use roof hatches to enter and exit our houses there. i remember dad worrying that there would be too much snow to finish the jump in time. they made it and i was one of the first to use it!

Ed[/quote]
Carson City's water comes from a couple of alpine lakes, above Lake Tahoe, as well as wells drilled in the valley floor. Again, there is a lot of snow above the Carson Valley basin, as well. [/quote]

I bet we can't get into Hobart to fish until June! I usually do a June camping trip on the Carson near China Springs. I fish while the kiddos swim. Me thinks with runoff this year I might make it July...

We have an apology in this morning's paper by their weatherman. They all missed it BIG time. We have winds around 30 and 6" of new snow. It was totally unexpected. He said that there was a Pacific disturbance that they all missed. It's a good thing we didn't get more snow because many of the county roads are drifting shut even with this.

Sounds like Wednesday in Thompson Pass.

Some awesome pictures at this link if one wants to see SNOW!

http://snowbrains.com/top-12-biggest-snowfall-events-recorded-history/

And in the East, we're 20* above average and only have had a total of 2" of snow here all year.

It's currently 70*. Our average high for this date is 48*.

You guys can keep it.

Every reservoir in Idaho is going to be full through the end of irrigation season. I don't know about about Lake Mead, but if the Utah and Colorado rockies are at 170%, it'll fill a long way. Remeber, the first 100% gets used up, the rest gets to run down river. 70% of normal going down river is a LOT of water.