Lake elevation is 6225.
I’m less then a mile from Emerald Bay and there is no where near 30 feet of snow. I’m very doubtful any part of 89 had 30 feet of snow on it unless there was an avalanche. We have 2.5 to 3 feet of snow on the ground.
The amount of snow on the ground is great, but nothing approaching spectacular. Much less then the last decent snow year we had which was back in 2009.
More snow predicted this week, but only a couple of feet. If we keep getting a foot or two of snow a week through April, it will end up as a good year - almost like the good old days, as they say.
From the pics on the Sac Bee it indeed was an avalanche. I was the chief engineer on the Tahoe Queen back in 1990, and even before that i worked the upper shop up the hill at Heavenly.
Of course you know the Tahoe Queen went into Emerald Bay, even in the winter when its water froze into plate ice. But they still ran the boat,saw it a hundred times at least.
My friend in Incline Village opened her front door to a wall of snow last week.
I am glad to read your assesment of ‘09 as I was just a few miles north of you on Valentine weekend that winter and know what it was like that week. As I remember, the road through Emerald Bay was closed that month as well but possibly due to construction. This gives me a good comparison.
I found it a photographer’s paradise.