After an end to 2023 marked by rain, slush, and a general lack of natural snow, the first storm of 2024 brought a blanket of white to Lake Tahoe. A Tuesday evening cold front covered the Sierra Nevada in white, with ski resorts around Lake Tahoe reporting anywhere from 4 inches of fresh snow at Incline Village’s Diamond Peak to 15 inches at Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort, south of the Tahoe basin.

The areas south and southwest of the lake received the most snowfall, leaving Kirkwood Ski Resort, Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort and Mammoth Mountain with the most fresh snow. Resorts on Tahoe’s western rideline reported moderate storm totals, with Palisades Tahoe measuring 8 inches of fresh snow at its summit, and 11 inches at Sugar Bowl’s summit. 

The storm is the first in more than a month to bring snowfall measured in the double digits to area resorts, reports local forecaster Bryan Alegretto of OpenSnow. It’s a below-average start for the high-elevation destination, which ended December at roughly one-third of the average historic snowfall total. With this new storm, Tahoe now has 38% of its average snowpack for this time of year. 

While 38 percent is still well below average, skiers hoping for fresh tracks may be in luck, as additional snow is predicted over the next few days in Tahoe, with a weekend storm likely to bring roughly the same amount of snow to the Sierra. There’s also the potential for a third storm the week of Jan. 8, just in time for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend. 

Though the storms are good news for ski resorts, they brought the usual highway delays, chain controls and partial closures associated with Tahoe’s winter storms and heavy traffic. Chain control restrictions covered most of the roads around the lake and still stand on highways 80 and 50. Chain control will likely continue through the weekend as the storms continue. 

While news of a foot of snow in Tahoe may seem insignificant compared with 2022-2023’s record-breaking snowfall year, it’s not cause for concern quite yet for skiers. While the current el Nino cycle could bring warmer temperatures to the Sierra, it also tends to bring more moisture, creating the potential for above-average snowfall at higher elevations. As January, February and March generally bring more snowfall than December, there’s still plenty of time for the ski seasons to get into full swing — especially as resorts like Palisades Tahoe have stayed open until the Fourth of July for the last several seasons.