The season of anticipation

November 24, 2013 by trudilee

By Tim Hauserman

It’s happening once again. The time honored Tahoe tradition that occurs almost every November. No, no, no. This has nothing to do with Thanksgiving or Black Friday or Christmas. Those all pale in comparison to what the Tahoe local is really focused on this time of year: When is it going to snow enough so I can ski the powder?

Tahoe folks have short-term memory issues when it comes to snowfall. We remember that rare Thanksgiving when we were skiing in several feet of new snow, and forget that we are much more likely to be hiking along the shore of Emerald Bay then skiing at Alpine Meadows in November.

Settle down kiddos, it’s time to take a deep breath and let’s review a little history. While it is rare to be skiing at Thanksgiving, fortunately, it’s also rare that we don’t have enough snow to ski at Christmas. If the past is any indication, the big storm we are waiting for will arrive in the next few weeks. Just about the time the ski area managers have chewed off their last remaining finger nail and are removing their socks so they can start chewing on their toes.

An extra level of nervousness might be evident this year, because the last few years have been a bit sparse in the snow department. Last year the snows arrived just in the nick of time a few days before Christmas, but two years ago we didn’t get a real snowstorm until the middle of January. That was the year we spent most of January ice skating over frozen lakes in the wilderness instead of skiing, which was actually putting all those snowless lemons to good use by producing a tasty lemonade.

Recent history tells us, however, that three years in a row of below average snowfall is a rarity, and soon we should be happily gliding over the white stuff. But just in case, a few fervent prayers and a lengthy round of snow dancing couldn’t hurt.