Sierra ski resorts delight in snow before long holiday weekend

Sandra Chereb

Friday, Jan. 12, 2001 | 11:27 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - The timing couldn't have been better for ski resort operators in the Sierra Nevada.

After a month of dry - even balmy - weather, a heavy snowstorm blew in just in time for the long, Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

"This is perfect timing," Monica Bandows, spokeswoman for Heavenly Ski Resort, said Thursday after the first major storm of the season dumped up to 3 feet of snow at higher elevations.

A winter storm warning for the Lake Tahoe region remained in effect through Thursday. The National Weather Service said snow, possibly heavy at times, would increase as the day worn on, bringing up to an additional 8 inches to areas above 7,000 feet and up to 5 inches at lake level.

A chance of snow would linger into Friday, forecasters said, followed by brief clearing on Saturday before the chance of snow returned on Sunday and Monday.

"It should set us up with some good momentum for the rest of the season," Bandows said.

Scattered snow showers began earlier in the week as a ridge of high pressure that has kept the Sierra and western Nevada high and dry for the past month finally began to break down.

The brunt of a strong Pacific storm that has brought driving rain to much of California hit the Sierra on Wednesday, unleashing a welcomed fury of winter.

Chains or snow tires were required throughout the region, though no major problems were reported.

Squaw Valley USA picked up about 2 feet of new snow, spokesman Eric Brandt said.

"It snowed a little Monday, then it cleared up. It snowed a little Tuesday, then it cleared up. Then it dumped last night," he said.

"We're loving it. There are smiles everywhere."

Brandt said four die-hard skiers showed up at 6:30 a.m. Thursday - a full 2 1/2 hours before the lifts open - to be the first ones in line and the first to leave their trails in the fresh powder.

"All indicators would show that this weekend is going to be gangbusters," Brandt said.

Elsewhere, Kirkwood received 2-3 feet of new snow, while Alpine Meadows reported a little more than 2 feet.

"We were hoping and hoping," said Kirkwood spokeswoman Nicole Belt of fresh snow for the upcoming three-day weekend. "We're anticipating big crowds and we just wanted ... the best stuff that Tahoe can offer."

Now, if the weather really cooperates, the storms will let up to allow people to get there, she said.

This weeks' storm was the first to hit the region since the middle of December.

"It's been pretty dry," said Gary Barbato, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Reno.

Winter storms bring snow that, come spring, provide the valleys of California and western Nevada with drinking and irrigation water.

The first winter survey of snowpack totals taken earlier this month were dismal, registering from 48 percent to as little as 23 percent of normal.

But experts say it's too early to be concerned and point out that the Sierra snowpack was only a quarter of average last year in early January before a series of storms rolled through to bring it to near normal levels.

"Last year we were further behind as far as precipitation than we are this year," Barbato said.

Still, last year's water season ended up slightly below average, ending a five-year wet streak of above normal precipitation.