A view of the fresh snowfall at Palisades Tahoe on Feb. 22, 2022. Up to a foot of snow fell on the slopes of Palisades Tahoe from the most recent storm.
© Kate Abraham/Palidades TahoeA view of the fresh snowfall at Palisades Tahoe on Feb. 22, 2022. Up to a foot of snow fell on the slopes of Palisades Tahoe from the most recent storm.
As a cold snap continues to drop temperatures across California, the Lake Tahoe area welcomed its first major snowstorm in six weeks.

Truckee saw 15 inches of snow, and South Lake Tahoe 4.5, the National Weather Service reported.

Some ski resorts received a foot of snow or more. Homewood Mountain saw 15 inches at its base and 22 inches at its summit. Heavenly had a total of 20 inches of snow. Palisades Tahoe experienced 8 inches at its base in The Village, while its upper mountain area received 17 inches.




Over the past few months, the Lake Tahoe area has experienced extreme weather whiplash, going from an atmospheric river in October to the snowiest December on record. Then, during the opening months of 2022, the area experienced a historic dry spell that lasted 37 days, only broken on Feb. 15 with 1.6 inches of snow, according to the Central Sierra Snow Lab.

In this latest storm, the Central Sierra Snow Lab — which has records tracking snowfall since 1878 — measured nearly 16 inches, with 1.6 inches of new snow during the past 24 hours.

While the snow has tapered off, temperatures for the area could drop even further, the weather service's Reno office wrote in its forecast, with "the potential to see some of the coldest temperatures of the season thus far." Highs today are between 20 and 25 degrees. Wednesday night, residents and visitors could experience what may be the coldest night of the week, with "widespread teen and single digit low temperatures, and below zero temperatures in colder valleys."