Looking ahead to Tahoe’s ski season

By
Katherine Hill
-
The last vestiges of fall color line the banks of the Truckee River running along Interstate 80 near remnants of the wooden flume once used to divert water to the old Farad Hydroelectric Power Plant built in 1899. Explore the Tahoe-Pyramid hiking and biking trail that now runs along the Truckee River to enjoy the fall colors. Read more about this historic stretch of the river at TheTahoeWeekly.com. Photography by Scott Thompson | ScottShotsPhoto.com, @ScottShotsPhoto

As October fades into November, cooler daytime temperatures set in and nights move to below freezing. These are the conditions local ski areas need to soon start making snow for the upcoming winter season, which kicks off in less than a month. Several local ski areas anticipate opening before Thanksgiving, as conditions permit, so it’s time to get ready for the winter (scheduled opening dates are in this edition).

With ski resorts opening in November, talk has turned to weather predictions for the upcoming season. Everyone has their own ideas about how to tell what the winter season will bring, but the fact remains that no one can predict the weather more than 2 weeks out. And, even then, it can still change dramatically. What is anticipated in the long-range forecast (a prediction) is a La Niña winter, which weather historian Mark McLaughlin says has “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde characteristics.” That’s an interesting way to look at the weather in the Tahoe Sierra in almost any year. Read more about Mark’s take on a La Niña winter, along with his look back at the 2019-20 winter season in this edition.

But before the snow flies, there’s still plenty of time to enjoy the last of the fall color and to explore. Mark recently went to the historic Al Tahoe region on the South Shore to explore the newly created Al Tahoe History Hunt created by the Lake Tahoe Historical Society, while Tim Hauserman explores some of the mountain biking trails as part of the Truckee Donner Land Trust’s Royal Gorge Rim Trail. For more local hikes and mountain bike rides, read our listings in this edition or visit TheTahoeWeekly.com.

“October Gold III” | Andy Skaff

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Katherine Hill
Katherine Hill
Katherine first moved to Tahoe in 1998 and has been in love with the Tahoe Sierra region since. She has been in the journalism field for more than 25 years and has worked for daily and weekly newspapers and magazines, as well as online publications and Web sites, as an award-winning writer and editor. In the fall of 2013, Katherine became only the third owner of the Tahoe Weekly magazine, and today serves as its Publisher and Editor In Chief. She also volunteers as a board member on of the Tahoe City Downtown Association, a commissioner on the North Tahoe Regional Advisory Council and is a member of the TBID Advisory Committee for the North Tahoe Community Alliance. She is also a past commissioner of the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Federal Advisory Commission.

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