Big snow sets New Year’s weekend record

While California braced for a bomb cyclone, meteorologists confirmed that a rare Tonopah Low was responsible for bringing up to 30 inches of snow to parts of Carson Valley.

“The storm that brought significant snowfall on New Year’s Eve does fit the pattern of a Tonopah Low,” National Weather Service Meteorologist Zach Tolby said. “It’s a pretty rare pattern. This is the first time I’ve actually seen it happen and I’ve been forecasting here for 11 years.”

In addition to setting the record for the New Year’s weekend with 16 inches recorded in Minden, it also was the most snow recorded over the first five days of January since 1906.

Minden Weather Watcher Stan Kapler said so far Minden has seen 5.37 inches of moist in the first week of 2023.

The snow load rendered the western rooms in Minden’s Holiday Lodge unsafe to occupy after inspectors were called to the motel on Tuesday.

“Two field inspectors arrived on scene and witnessed stressing of the exterior walls. Doors where racked and unable to close,” Chief Building Official Tim Davis said. “The western section of the buildings roof had started to sag and a saddle was forming.”

Davis said the roof hadn’t failed, but it was showing signs it might collapse, and would require repairs.

Minden-Tahoe Airport had to bring its big equipment to reopen the runways after receiving 18 inches of snow.

Airport Director Bobbi Thompson said the main runway and taxiway were open and officials expected to have both runways open by Thursday afternoon.

“Several of our gates were snow covered above their bottom railings and froze in the closed position, but we had other gates open for tenants,” she said. “Since we cannot push snow to the sides of the runways because of aircraft wings and runway lights we do have some very impressive piles of the white stuff.”

One impressive pile of snow runs down the middle of Highway 395 through Minden and Gardnerville.

“With a heavy accumulation of snow, the berm provides a location to move the snow without additional impacts to sidewalks, businesses and driveways,” Nevada Transportation Spokeswoman Meg Ragonese said.  “All major intersections have been cleared of snow for easier access.”

Ragonese said clearing the berm will have to wait until other more pressing issues are dealt with.

“While there is no specific timeframe, the remaining berm will be removed once other weather-related traffic safety priorities such as snow removal and roadside drainage repair are complete.’

The Tonopah low was responsible for the surprise change of rain to snow on New Year’s Eve.

“It happens when we get a strong storm impacting the Sierra in just the right orientation that a surface low pressure forms in (Central) Nevada around the area of Tonopah,” Tolby said. “As the surface pressure deepens it creates (counterclockwise) flow which brings northeasterly surface flow to Western Nevada. This brings much colder surface air into the region from the north lowering snow levels much below what they would have been otherwise.”

The first mention of the weather phenomenon in The R-C was Oct. 21, 1949, when a storm left 2 inches of snow in Minden and Gardnerville and 5.5 inches on Spooner Grade.

Predicting a surprise November 1957 blast of snow was credited to Ernie Lee, who was the Weather Bureau observer at Glenbrook, according to the Nov. 7 edition of The R-C.

“That snow caught a great many individuals unprepared, particularly motorists, some of whom should have known better,” R-C Editor John Suverkrup opined. “Ernie, who has put in as many winters at Lake Tahoe as any individual still residing year around, proved he was a better prognosticator of weather conditions than the meteorologists.”

While forecasters said there would be no snow, Lee said it would be a Tonopah low that brought 2 inches to Minden.