It’s a powder party at ski resorts from Mammoth to North Lake Tahoe

The bad news: The snowpack survey in the Sierra Nevada on Tuesday measured far below normal, leaving California facing a fourth year of severe drought, the Associated Press reports.

The better news: in the short term, storms brought serious powder to California ski resorts from Mammoth Mountain in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., and north to North Lake Tahoe. The three-day storm that started Friday dumped more than 2 feet of snow at many resorts.

Squaw Valley, Mt. Rose Ski Resort, Northstar California and others welcomed boarders and skiers who at places were knee-deep in newly fallen snow. There was enough of the white stuff to open the Royal Gorge cross-country skiing resort in Soda Springs, Calif.

Here’s what the North Lake Tahoe Visitors’ Bureau reported Tuesday on local ski resorts:

--Alpine Meadows in Tahoe City, Calif., gained 28 inches; six lifts and 43 runs are open

--Boreal Mountain Resort in Soda Springs, Calif., gained 22 inches; seven lifts and 30 runs are open

--Diamond Peak Ski Area in Incline Village, Nev., gained 24 inches, five lifts and 22 runs are open

--Mt. Rose Ski Resort in Reno, Nev., gained 10 inches; seven lifts and 41 runs are open

--Northstar California Resort in Truckee, Calif., gained 16 inches; 13 lifts and 64 runs are open

--Squaw Valley in Olympic Valley, Calif., gained 32 inches; 22 lifts and 61 runs are open

--Sugar Bowl Resort in Truckee, Calif., gained 24 inches; seven lifts and 67 runs are open

Farther south, Mammoth Mountain in a statement said it received more than a foot of snow as of Sunday. “Yesterday the top of the mountain was going off with some of the best powder we’ve seen all season,” Mammoth wrote on its website Tuesday of the 11,053-foot peak.