Paula Peterson, South Tahoe Now
This weekend’s snow storms delivered as much as 11 inches of fresh snow to the resorts around the Lake Tahoe basin, enough to prompt three resorts to open during the Thanksgiving holiday week.
Heavenly Mountain Resort and Northstar California Resort will open for the ski season Wednesday, Nov. 23 and Kirkwood Mountain Resort will open for skiing Saturday, Nov. 26.
“Recent winter storms and continued cold snowmaking temperatures created ideal conditions to prepare the Best of Tahoe resorts for opening day,” said Pete Sonntag, senior vice president of mountain division and chief operating officer of Heavenly Mountain Resort. “We’re thrilled to welcome guests with great skiing this holiday weekend at Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood.”
Additional snow and cold temperatures are forecast throughout the coming week.
“We are excited to open Kirkwood this Saturday. The mountain received an additional 11 inches of fresh snow over the weekend and additional snow is forecast Friday night. Kirkwood is living up to its famed reputation for great snow – even on opening day,” said Doug Pierini, vice president and general manager of Kirkwood Mountain Resort.
Meanwhile, a winter storm will move into the Sierra Tuesday evening and last into Wednesday. While this is only a weak to moderate winter storm, it will cause significant travel delays in the Sierra due to the Thanksgiving holiday and heavy traffic volume, according to the National Weather Service.
Thanksgiving Day will be mild and sunny, and then another winter storm is forecast to impact the Sierra starting Friday afternoon while will result in more travel issues with winter driving conditions likely.
The latest forecast simulations are showing a break Saturday into Sunday, with possibly a colder system expected for Sunday evening into Monday with the potential for additional snow in the Sierra and snow across western Nevada as well, but uncertainty remains high with the details for now.
