Precipitation is in the air. As the clouds soak the sky the rain falls lightly right here in Squaw Valley, projects continue and preparation for winter continues. A helicopter at the base of Squaw is bringing rickety parts of the Siberia ski lifts off the mountain and replacing them with shiny, new metal. An excavator works at 8000 feet to relocate the Headwall Patrol shack and lay a new foundation for what we hope will be feet upon feet of snow.
Mother Nature is finicky and all we can do is prepare for anything she throws our way. Our most trusted source and meteorologist Bryan Allegretto delivers the most accurate reports in all of Tahoe, according to local hard core skiers and snow boarders. Bryan Allegretto publishes his meteorological findings on OpenSnow and since there has been a lot of talk and much publicity of a hearty El Nino winter, let’s take a moment to explain how El Nino will affect North Tahoe.
El Nino and La Nina effects are abnormalities in climate cycles that can influence weather patterns throughout the world. Hotter ocean waters in the Pacific change the position of thunderstorms which can change wind patterns. This is important because those winds determine where the snow falls. In 2009/2010, our last El Nino season, the East coast was bombarded by snow while we still had a below average snowfall in Tahoe. The last time California received significantly more precipitation from El Nino effects was the winter of 1997/1998. This year, North Tahoe is located in a prime location for receiving more snow than the last two seasons. According to Bryan and his buddies on OpenSnow Tahoe, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado will be affected the most by El Nino weather patterns. This will mean great things for Squaw and business throughout the North Tahoe area.
To follow our favorite snow forecaster visit https://opensnow.com/dailysnow/tahoe for Bryan’s updates.
As my assistant Sarah’s home mountain in New Hampshire always says, *think snow!*
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