Without a doubt, the 2016/2017 season will go down as one of the best ski seasons for Tahoe in the history of people skiing in the Sierra but how does this year stack up to past biblical winters?
Relate:Â The Greatest Snowfall Records of All-Time
According to a recent article from OnTheSummit, northern California had a winter for the record books; hosting what they are referring to as the “wettest winter on record.”
With statistics and graphs from the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory atop Donner Summit, the article goes on to state that the 2017 water year beat out the previous champ– the 1982 water year which saw 112″ of precipitation. What’s especially noteworthy is that record keeping for our current water year doesn’t stop until September, meaning there’s quite a bit of time left to put distance between this year’s record and 1982.
While the 2017 water year will go down as the ‘wettest’ on record this season only ranks as the 20th snowiest season in history with just under 600″ on the summit. The 1938 season is still #1 with over 800″+ on Donner Summit
Still, all that precipitation didn’t create the “snowiest season” or “deepest” on record. Some of the storms this season came in warm and areas of the Sierra and northern California saw rainfall instead of snow.
The 2016/2017 season is currently ranked the 29th deepest snow year since record keeping began in 1880. This year saw just under 600″ of snow on Donner Summit. The snowiest season record for Donner Summit is still 1938, which saw 863″ of cumulative snowfall.
Find the entire post here: The Winter of 2017 – An Historical Perspective