Snow Report: 70 Inches of New Snow Pushes NorCal Totals Past 10 Feet for December
The major winter storm that nuked Northern California with a ton of mountain snow lived up to the hype over the weekend. The snow totals catapult the region into what many hope will be a wet winter.
When the storm arrived on Friday, many people were skeptical if it could really deliver the snow totals in the forecast. Boy, did it deliver. The snow fell hard for nearly three days straight, with blizzard conditions shutting down ski resorts and roadways in the midst of howling winds up to 140 mph.
After everyone hunkered down for the weekend, the clouds parted and snow totals were revealed from the ski resorts. The numbers are an astounding start to the season. Here are the snow totals from this storm:
- Sugar Bowl – 51 inches
- Boreal – 60 inches
- Palisades Tahoe – 52 inches
- Homewood – 51 inches
- Tahoe Donner – 46 inches
- Northstar – 53 inches
- Mt Rose – 54 inches
- Diamond Peak – 42 inches
- Heavenly – 33 inches
- Sierra-at-Tahoe – 69 inches
- Kirkwood – 49 inches
- Bear Valley – 38 inches
- Dodge Ridge – 52 inches
- Mammoth Mountain – 29 inches
- China Peak – 48 inches
- Mount Shasta – 36 inches
What may be even more interesting is the ultra-wet start to December, just a year after the historic winter of 2021. Not only are some mountain regions surpassing 10 feet of snow through the first 12 days of the month, but it is also making its own run at history as one of the snowiest Decembers on record in the Sierra.
Here are the snow totals for the month of December so far:
- Sugar Bowl – 106 inches
- Boreal – 118 inches
- Palisades Tahoe – 112 inches
- Homewood – 88 inches
- Tahoe Donner – 92 inches
- Northstar – 104 inches
- Mt Rose – 112 inches
- Diamond Peak – 69 inches
- Heavenly – 82 inches
- Sierra-at-Tahoe – 118 inches
- Kirkwood – 93 inches
- Bear Valley – 79 inches
- Dodge Ridge – 91 inches
- Mammoth Mountain – 78 inches
- China Peak – 77 inches
- Mount Shasta – 63 inches
These early-season storms have far from protected the region stricken by drought over the past decade, but it sure helps. The forecast for the upcoming week shows no signs of precipitation, but if the year can end with some heavy winter storms, we could see another historic December.
