California ski resorts look to the latest storm for snow to help kick off the season
As skiers and snowboarders flock to the Lake Tahoe and the Eastern Sierra slopes this holiday weekend, National Weather Service meteorologists say the latest storm is expected to drop only a limited amount of snow in Southern California.
The only area that could record even as much as 1 to 2 inches of snow over the weekend is the high mountain peaks of the Eastern San Gabriel Mountains, said John Dumas, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, operators of the Mt. Baldy Resort in the San Gabriel Mountains, said they expect to open their snow play area Saturday and Sunday as well as a chair lift “through the holidays.”
“We expect more snow after Christmas through the New Year,” according to the post.
Big Bear Mountain Resort in the San Bernardino Mountains is expected to see rain and snow flurries Friday evening but should have little to no snow accumulation over the weekend.
Looking out of his office window and seeing blue skies, Justin Kanton, Big Bear’s public relations director, said the limited trails open for skiing should remain open over the weekend, and the amount of snow in the area has been great so far for visitors, especially students on winter vacation.
A storm will sweep into California from the Pacific Northwest Wednesday, dropping up to three inches of snow along the crest of Sierra.
As the Big Bear resort waits what the storm might bring, Katon cautioned visitors to prepare ahead of traveling to the area by checking the weather report, looking for road closures and identifying whether snow chains are necessary for travel.
“What [you] don’t want is to get halfway up the hill and CHP turns [you] around because [you] don’t have the right kind of traction,” he said.
Other parts of the state have already received enough snow to kick off the ski season.
Over the next three days Mammoth Mountain in the Eastern Sierra is predicting about three inches of snowfall. The National Weather Service forecast for the Lake Tahoe area is partly cloudy with a slight chance of snow Friday, Saturday and Monday. Lake Tahoe’s resorts are reporting between six and 48 inches of base, with higher-elevation resorts operating up to third to a half of all trails.
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