Dry Tahoe Waiting for Snow

There's winter fun to be had at Lake Tahoe, even if there's not much snow.

You won't recognize this Tahoe -- it's the winter wonderland without snow.

Ski resorts are open and running, but skiers and snowboarders are making runs on man-made surfaces: A year after record snowfalls dumped seven feet of the wet white stuff on ski resort trails, driveways and the Lake Tahoe area in general, roughly "a foot" has fallen at the foot of Squaw Valley, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

The lack of snowfall is odd considering last year's epic frozen precipitation. However, that doesnt mean the area isn't a winter wonderland: the air is freezing-cold, meaning ice surfaces have frozen over for ice skating and hockey -- with no clearing the lakes of snowfall necessary! Meanwhile, mountain bikers are enjoying clear late-season runs on trails -- and there are rumors of sunbathers spotted at some of the lake's beaches!

While both this year and last are La Niña years, last year's rainfall was 120 perent of normal -- this year's is closer to 50 percent, the newspaper reported. Last year's snowdump even included a storm in June, allowing skiers to ski on the Fourth of July.

Oddly, Southern California has had 131 percent of normal rainfall. And the season is young yet, meaning ski resort operators and metereologists alike aren't heralding the end of winter.

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