Comments on: Opening Update – 11/19/07

By: Spench

Spench — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 02:48:32 +0000

I see. Tahoe in Dec and Jan tends to get quite cold at night, in a general range of 5-20 degrees, and then during the day if the sun comes out the temps will shoot up into the low 40s in a hurry, turning powder to mush within a couple of runs. If the sun doesn’t come out (which is kind of rare) it stays quite chilly during the day, around freezing. A few degrees warmer by the lake than on the mountain, 5 degrees per thousand feet sounds about right, adiabatic cooling I think they call that.

By: dennis

dennis — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 01:07:18 +0000

to RT turbo…heavenly can be down right freezing when the storms come off the pacific 5-10 degrees is nothing…I have seen snow up there freeze on the lift in a matter of seconds…

By: Rt Turbo

Rt Turbo — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 23:03:38 +0000

to Spench, and the others, I was just asking about how their predictions fall to lake level versus mountains. Not trying to be a nay-sayer. i realize their predictions are in the teens at night and you can make snow. Im just used to places I ski being below freezing in the day. Ive never been to tahoe so Im curious. Also, how does the inversion add up in late january. Again, Im used to about 5-10 degrees colder at top of mountain.

By: Kenny

Kenny — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:03:20 +0000

Do you guys know how many runs would be open during the opening days?

By: Court

Court — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:42:18 +0000

There is nothing wrong with the weather channel’s forecast temps. They are very reliable. They are calling for lows in the low teens and highs in the 40s all week. So for South Lake Tahoe, that means the low in some of the colder areas (at Lake level) will be in the low teens and the highs in some of the warmer areas (at Lake level) will be in the 40s. Generally speaking, you can subtract 5 degrees for each 1000 feet of altitude you go up. That means highs in the mid 30s at 8,000′ and up. I say generally because this changes as a ‘temperature inversion’ builds in. Then, when there is no wind to move the air around, the cold air settles in the low lying valleys, and the mountain elevations can be significantly warmer. That is not present now, but will probably build later in the week. They are currently able to blow snow throughout the night and during a significant portion of the day as well.

By: Rich Heffelfinger

Rich Heffelfinger — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:54:43 +0000

Right now my thermometer says 27. It’s chilly here at the lake right now.

By: Tony

Tony — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:51:16 +0000

the temp showing on weather.com is flat land temp.

By: Spench

Spench — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:36:55 +0000

This is for the naysayer that says weather.com predicts warm weather. NOAA is the only forecast worth checking, and here’s a summary of their nighttime temps for the next few days for Tahoe:
.TONIGHT…CLEAR. LOWS 12 TO 22.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS 16 TO 26.
.THURSDAY NIGHT…CLEAR. LOWS 16 TO 26.
FRIDAY LOWS 15 TO 25.
daytime highs generally in the 40s but it’s the nighttime temps that count for snowmaking

By: Rt Turbo

Rt Turbo — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:38:14 +0000

Im going to reiterate this. Im checking weather.com and the temps are supposed to be mid 40’s for the next 10 days. Today it says 46 is the high. But it is 20* at this point. There seems to be a weird difference between what they say and im hearding here.

On another note, the past temp. averages on weather.com show tahoe as being an average high of low 40’s each day in january (its coldest month). But other statistics Ive seen show much lower, in the low 30s to 20s for the past averages. Which is right? For those of you locals, what would you say you normally see as a daily high for january?

By: Geo

Geo — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:24:58 +0000

LET IT SNOW!!! We got a package here, and already moved it to this Friday, thanks guys for doing all you can to get it open!