Winter arrives in Lake Tahoe and will be sticking around
The white stuff on the ground and in the trees throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin is snow — just in case people forgot what it looked like.
The sounds and sights of winter finally arrived Jan. 21. Snowmobiles were on city streets, private and public snowplows were doing a brisk business, bus stops had snowboarders waiting for a lift, shovels came out of the garage, and children were being pulled on saucers.
Pedestrians take a chance Jan. 21 crossing Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe. Photo/Kathryn Reed
Snow is in the forecast for the basin through Tuesday. Highs will be in the mid-30s, with lows in the 20s.
For South Lake Tahoe residents wondering when their street might be plowed – keep wondering. The thousands of dollars spent on the GPS system for the machines were touted at the Jan. 17 City Council meeting as being installed. And they are. It’s just that the technology to allow people to track them online isn’t up and running.
Below are the rain and snow totals from the National Weather Service as of 11:30am Jan. 21:
Snow:
Soda Springs Ski Area — 8-12 inches
Incline Village — 7-12 inches
Sierra-at-Tahoe — 9 inches
Tahoe-Donner — 6-7 inches
Tahoe City — 3 inches
Truckee airport — 3 inches
Rain:
South Lake Tahoe — 4.30 inches
Homewood – 4 inches
Incline Village — 1.50 inches
Alpine Meadows — 1.13 inches.
— Kathryn Reed
Can’t wait for those fantastic GPS systems,they are sure to be helpful during snow removal.
Sure would like to know the cost of that system ???????
I live off North Upper Truckee and for the first time in a long while we were plowed on the same day as the storm. Usually we had to wait a minimum of 2 days and with the amount of snow received I would have thought they would not even have plowed. I hope the great service continues!
I am intimately familiar with GPS tracking systems. What I cannot understand is how spending thousands of dollars on something that does not remove snow is going to help remove snow. Systems like this are entirely too expensive to do anything positive for our tiny bus system or our city plows that cannot be done simply by a person. Hopefully, the county will not get involved and, instead, will continue the high level of service that they have for my 35 years here.
I can see the GPS system for the snowplows as helpful to many residents, but I have not heard a word since late January on the situation. I am guessing it was not up and running this past Winter. What is the status?
Just more mindless spending by the city council. It will never end!
I believe that Councilmember Cole’s and Grego’s terms on the City Council end in December 2012. I would highly recommend that eligible individuals unhappy with the City Council’s decision-making and management of SLT run for one of those two seats. Many people complain that it’s frequently the same people who serve on the City Council and are critical of those who are currently serving and this is the time for individuals wanting changes to begin sharing their suggestions on how they’d “fix” the City and offer the voting public a chance to vote for you and your ideas.