‘A tragic day on Lake Tahoe’: How a sudden storm left 8 boaters dead

On Saturday morning across South Lake Tahoe, winds were light. Skies were clear. Temperatures began to climb into the upper 50s.

The day before, the National Weather Service had issued a wind advisory, but Saturday it appeared that the weather had finally calmed. Forecasts showed a chance of rain and an even smaller possibility of thunderstorms, but that wasn’t out of the ordinary for regulars at the High Sierra lake.

Hundreds of boaters and anglers headed out.

Initially, it appeared to be a good day out on the water. Joby Cefalu said he and his group almost immediately caught four fish when they stopped along the lake’s eastern shores, where he recalled glassy waters.

But around 2 p.m., something changed.

Cefalu — a lifelong Tahoe boater and co-owner of Mile High Fishing Charters — noticed some whitecaps forming. The wind also was quickly picking up, blowing in from the north, which wasn’t typical.

“I told my customers, ‘Essentially, we’re looking at probably 2- or 3-foot chop by the time we get a half an hour from here, and from there it’s going to probably be a little bit worse,’” Cefalu recalled saying as he headed the boat he was piloting back toward the marina. “Within 15 minutes, there was 5- to 6-foot chop, and then within a half-hour, it was 8- to 10-foot chop.”

VIDEO | 00:09

Capsized boat at Lake Tahoe

The next two hours would be a race against time and Mother Nature as conditions on the lake rapidly deteriorated, faster than many locals and longtime mariners had ever seen. In a matter of minutes, several boats on South Lake Tahoe capsized — in at least two cases, passengers were plunged into cold and choppy waters. Eight of the 10 occupants on one of those boats near D.L. Bliss State Park would die in the dangerous conditions, despite rescue efforts.

Many struggled to get their boats ashore against the relentless waves: In some cases, onlookers helped frantic passengers get to safety, while other unmanned vessels broke free of their moorings, some sinking or crashing into nearby piers or other boats. Several buoys washed ashore. Dozens of people were treated for hypothermia after harrowing boat rides through the perilous conditions.

“It’s the worst situation I’ve seen on the lake,” said South Lake Tahoe Mayor Tamara Wallace, who has lived and boated in the area for decades. She commended first responders, the local boating community and bystanders for stepping up during the crisis, noting that South Lake Tahoe police officers and firefighters were able to rescue 10 people whose boat capsized near Tahoe Keys Pier.

“It was a lot of people helping people,” she said.

The sudden storm on Lake Tahoe on Saturday left damage in its wake. Crews were dispatched to clean up oil from overturned boats.

(California Office of Spill Prevention and Response)

One group could not be entirely saved, however, as their boat capsized and eight people died. Wallace called it an “unspeakable tragedy.”

The Coast Guard and El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office responded around 3 p.m. Saturday to the shores of D.L. Bliss State Park, in southwest Lake Tahoe, where someone had seen 10 people in the water after a boat capsized. Waves in the area were reported about 8 feet high, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Initially, officials were able to rescue two people, who were transported to a hospital, but six others were found dead, officials said. On Sunday, rescue teams recovered a seventh body, and Monday afternoon, the last missing boater also was found dead, sheriff’s officials said.

On Tuesday, officials identified the victims as five Californians and three New Yorkers: Paula Bozinovich, 71, of Redwood City; Terry Pickles, 73, of Redwood City; Josh Antony Pickles, 37, of San Francisco; Peter Bayes, 72, of Lincoln; Timothy O’Leary, 71, of Auburn; Theresa Giullari, 66, of Honeoye, N.Y.; James Guck, 69, of Honeoye, N.Y.; and Stephen Lindsay, 63, of Springwater, N.Y.

In a statement, the widow of Josh Pickles said her husband died alongside his parents, Terry Pickles and Paula Bozinovich, and his uncle, Peter Bayes. She called the other victims friends of the family.

“We are devastated by this tragedy,” Jordan Sugar-Carlsgaard wrote. “No words can express the pain and anguish we feel knowing their lives were lost during what was meant to be a joyful time on the lake. Our hearts go out to those who tragically lost their lives and the two survivors of this unexpected and deadly storm on Lake Tahoe.”

Sam Singer, a spokesperson for the family, said that Josh and Terry Pickles owned the boat that capsized, which they purchased last year. This was only their third time taking the boat out on the water, Singer said.

The group had gathered in Tahoe and on the boat to celebrate Bozinovich’s birthday, Singer said. Josh Pickles and his wife have a 7-month-old baby. Sugar-Carlsgaard and the baby were not aboard the boat during the storm. The family has a home in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Tahoe.

VIDEO | 00:41

Major storm causes dangerous waters at South Lake Tahoe

The Coast Guard said the group had been aboard a 27-foot gold powerboat.

The Sheriff’s Office did not respond to requests for comment from The Times, but other officials said the crash remained under investigation.

Although Tahoe officials always warn people to take precautions on the water and monitor the weather, officials and locals said the rapid switch in conditions seemed unprecedented.

Between noon and 3 p.m., winds in South Lake Tahoe went from 5 or 10 mph to 35 to 45 mph, according to the National Weather Service. The temperature dropped from the mid-50s to the upper 30s. And waves appeared to grow by several feet, with reports of swells or chops hitting 7 to 10 feet. At some points during the storm, it even snowed.

Visitors along the lake at D.L. Bliss State Park after a weekend incident in which a boat capsized, killing several people, on Monday in Lake Tahoe.

(Brooke Hess-Homeier / Associated Press)

“This particular storm popped up pretty quickly,” said Matthew Chyba, a weather service meteorologist based in Reno, which includes the Tahoe region. Chyba confirmed that there were no advisories issued for Tahoe on Saturday but called the storm that rolled in an exceptionally bad thunderstorm, the kind that’s hard to predict and has the ability to create short-term, dangerous conditions.

“It was very localized,” Chyba said. “And unfortunately it was in a place where people were recreating.”

Cefalu, 57, said he could remember one or two other days on the lake with similarly bad conditions, but they didn’t develop as rapidly as on Saturday, or become as hazardous.

California

At least six dead after boat capsizes in Lake Tahoe storm

At least six people died and two remain missing after a boat capsized in Lake Tahoe amid thunderstorms and heavy wind gusts.

June 22, 2025

“I’m on the water a great deal of days of the year. … I’ve been in just about every type of condition, and that was just something I’ve never seen happen so fast,” Cefalu said. “It was just a tragic day on Lake Tahoe.”

Adding to the danger was the cold water, which remained below 60 degrees all day Saturday, according to the Tahoe Environmental Research Center at UC Davis, dropping slightly into the low 50s at some points. Officials warn that water below 70 degrees is cold enough to cause hypothermia if a person is exposed to the conditions for a long period of time.

Once Cefalu got his charter safely back to the marina, he soon saw that many boaters were in trouble — even if they had made it back ashore.

“There was just a massive amount of people that were in hypothermia or shock,” Cefalu said. He said he worked with marina staff and other locals to set up a type of triage system to help get people dry and then, gradually and safely, warm. At the Tahoe Keys Marina, he said, he worked for almost two hours to respond to the needs of at least 60 people — and he estimated there were many other marinas and docks dealing with similar situations.

Conor Bugbee, 32, was vacationing with his family at Camp Richardson in South Lake Tahoe when the sunny afternoon quickly turned. He said boats started to break from their moorings, and “one by one they started crashing into shore.”

He said a pontoon boat made it to the beach — with a dead motor and no life vests in sight — so he jumped into action to make sure the frightened occupants got off the boat safely.

“It was super eerie, you were outside tanning in the sun and next thing you knew you could see your breath,” said Bugbee, a Sacramento resident. He called it a “freak storm,” unlike anything he’d experienced.

Wallace wasn’t on the water Saturday, but she was outside nearby and said the shift in weather was unlike any that she could remember in her three decades living there.

“That has to be the single craziest Sierra storm to come through here,” Wallace said. “It was very violent and very turbulent, and then it was gone.”

By Saturday evening, skies were again blue and the waters were calm. But the damage was widespread.

As of Monday, Wallace said, most boats had been removed from beaches, retied or taken in for repairs, but city crews were still working to respond to debris and sand loss. The community was still struggling to grasp the boater deaths.

The only takeaway right now, Cefalu said, is that there must be more awareness around safety precautions, preparations and education.

“We’re stuck in the middle of Sierra Nevada so the weather is very unpredictable,” he said. “It’s really important that the recreational boater — or even professional boater — recognize that when whitecaps turn up so fast ... it’s time to put on your life jacket and get off the water.”

Wallace encouraged people — even those who have boated a lot — to hire a seasoned captain when they visit Tahoe and want to get out on the water.

“Our lake is just different,” she said. “It’s amazingly beautiful and peaceful looking, but it is anything but [that] in circumstances like what happened Saturday.”