A major storm is heading toward Northern California. Some estimate this could bring as much as twelve feet of snow.
We can predict that many news anchors will solemnly claim this is absolute proof of climate change, meaning global warming. It always cracks me up when severe cold and winter blizzards are blamed on global warming. But, in addition, this has happened before. It happened to me.
Our family decided to go to Lake Tahoe for some skiing. I rented a condo in Incline Village. What could possibly go wrong? This was in February 1999. We were living in Novato at the time. When we got to Sacramento it started to rain ridiculously hard. I turned to my wife and said: “If it is raining here, it is snowing in the mountains.” We tore up Interstate 80. By the time we got to Donnor Summit there had been over a foot of snow. As we drove down the steep incline from Donnor Pass to Truckee, the radio announced that Donner Pass was now closed. By the time we got to Truckee another foot of snow fell. We picked up the keys to the condo and drove to Incline Village. Another foot of snow was added to the depths. The property manager had to deliver a snow shovel to us. I put chains on my 4-wheel drive Ford Expedition for the first, and only, time. The condo was located on a long circular driveway. I got up every two hours and drove around that loop. I knew it would be the only way we would be able to get out in the morning. I stupidly went to Incline Village Ski Resort the next morning, where they laughed at me and said they were “digging down to the ski lifts.”
So how much snow one might ask? Between February 6 to February 9, Sugar Bowl Ski Resort received 168 inches (14 feet) of snow. If you check this article, you will see that in 1906-1907 Tamarack California, received 884 inches (72.7 feet of snow).
Sierra Snowfall (thestormking.com)
Donner Pass is named after the Donner Party which was trapped near Donner Lake during the winter of 1846-1847. No one measured the snow depth, but the Donner Party became so desperate they resorted to cannibalism. This, of course, is the first documented major snowstorm to hit the Sierra Mountains because of climate change (global warming) caused by excess CO-2 emissions attributed to the Industrial Revolution.
TDM