snow

700 inches and counting: Palisades Tahoe sees record snowfall this season after deluge of storms

Palisades only needs eight more inched of snow for it to officially be the snowiest season it's seen in 25 years.

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

700 inches and counting: Palisades sees record snowfall this season

Palisades Tahoe says it has officially reached 700 inches of snow this season after a deluge of storms hit California over the last several months.

OLYMPIC VALLEY, Calif. (KGO) -- Palisades Tahoe announced Friday that the resort has officially reached 700 inches of snow this season after a deluge of storms hit California over the last several months.

According to resort officials, at this rate, the season has the potential to be record-breaking. Palisades only needs eight more inches of snow for it to officially be the snowiest season it's seen in 25 years.

In a blog post on Palisades' website, officials broke down some of the significant events that led to this truly epic season.

In December, officials say they had nothing but snowy weather for the first two weeks of the month and at one point recorded sustained wind gusts of over 100 mph. The snow total for the month was just over 12 feet.

Moving onto January, resort officials say it started off 2023 "completely buried," with 32 inches of snow in 24 hours on Jan. 1. They say the first storm of the month also set a record for the most snow ever recorded in a 12-hour period and by Jan. 12 they had already received nine feet of snow. The snowfall total for the month came out to more than 14 feet.

Now to February where there were several more notable storms throughout the month, most notably on the last day of the month which forced the resort to close entirely as they saw more than three feet of snow in 24 hours. Once again Palisades received 12 feet of snow in February just like in December.

And lastly, March started off with another series of atmospheric rivers that brought both rain and snow to the Sierra Nevada. That's why, on March 23, the resort announced it would be extending its ski and snowboard season through the 4th of July due to the massive amount of snow it received.

California has been hit hard by storm after storm so far this year. The big question now - has the rain had any impact on the state's water levels? Go here for a closer look at where we stand with the drought, snowpack totals and reservoirs.