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