Let It Snow!

The holiday diddy "Let it snow" is dancing in the heads of Tahoe ski resort operators this week.

The Sierra got another foot of snow overnight and the flurries are still flying today, making for great ski conditions just in time for another holiday weekend. Getting there will be typically tricky, so bring your chains and your patience.

NBC Bay Area meteorologist Craig Herrera says the current system is headed to Yosemite but promises another one is on its heels with more snow forecast for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Check Ski Conditions

The next weather event will bring another foot in the higher elevations and several more inches at lake level.

Donner Summit was busy starting Tuesday as people tried to beat the storm and the New Year's traffic.  At its height, 3,000 vehicles crossed Donner Summit per hour.

Crowds of people and their ski racks are expected to start again pouring onto I-80 starting Wednesday afternoon. Caltrans says the heaviest traffic is expected between noon and 5 p.m.

There are 150 workers at the ready to move the snow and get those roads clear for traffic.

"Us here at Caltrans, we're here to get you there," Caltrans' Brian Carlson told KCRA.

Snowpack Totals Are In

Originally appeared on KCRA.com

Sierra snowpack is 85 percent of normal for this time of year, but the state said it's too early to tell if California will face another year of drought.

"There is some indication that we're moving into a strong El Nino," said Frank Gehrke, snow survey section chief for the Department of Water Resources.

Gehrke said the El Nino is developing late, which could mean a very wet winter or a dry winter. The state has experienced three years of drought.

Gehrke, speaking from a survey location at Phillips Station just off Highway 50, called the results of Wednesday's snow tally "average" and "adequate." The survey was the first of the season.

In the southern Sierra, the snowpack is 100 percent of normal.

In the central Sierra, located east of Sacramento, the snowpack is 83 percent of normal.

In the northern Sierra, the snowpack is 74 percent of normal.

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