How much snow is Heavenly getting?
No snow in the forecast for Heavenly in the next 72 hours. Rain instead: about 0.6 inches, with the snow level at 8,500 ft, above the base area in South Lake Tahoe (7,175 ft). NWS forecast updated Oct 20, 12:01 PM PDT; read .
From the National Weather Service’s gridded forecast for the base area in South Lake Tahoe, read every 30 minutes. Totals are rounded: half inches under 3 inches, whole inches above.
Storm alerts
A notification on this device when chain control starts, changes or lifts, or a road closes or reopens. Pick your roads:
An alert is a heads-up that something changed, not a road report, and it can arrive a few minutes after the change. Before you drive, check Caltrans QuickMap or Nevada 511 (nvroads.com), or call 511. A few alerts a day at most; no account, no email, and you can turn them off here any time (what we keep).
How much snow is Heavenly getting: NWS snowfall at the base in South Lake Tahoe over the next 72 hours, when it falls and how low the snow level comes.
Echo Summit now
No chain controls at Echo Summit (Caltrans). Checked .
The forecast here is for Heavenly's base area in South Lake Tahoe, at the bottom of the gondola. The upper mountain runs to about 10,000 feet and gets more than this point does; the base is the number that tells you what the drive into town and the parking lot will be like.
Heavenly is reached from California over US-50 and Echo Summit, and from the Nevada side up Kingsbury Grade to the Stagecoach and Boulder lodges. Both roads have their own live chain answer, linked below.
The next 72 hours at Heavenly, twelve hours at a time
| Period | Snow | Chance of precipitation | Snow level | Temperature | Wind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | none | 12% | 9,500 ft | 56–58°F | 2 mph, gusts 9 |
| Tuesday night | none | 12% | 9,500 ft | 46–56°F | 0 mph, gusts 6 |
| Wednesday | none | 78% | 9,500 ft | 44–53°F | 3 mph |
| Wednesday night | none | 92% | 8,500–9,500 ft | 45–50°F | 0 mph, gusts 6 |
| Thursday | none | 83% | 8,500 ft | 43–47°F | 5 mph, gusts 12 |
| Thursday night | none | 75% | 8,000 ft | 43–46°F | 7 mph, gusts 23 |
Heights to read the snow level against
The working cameras within 15 miles of Heavenly, highest first. Where the snow level is below a camera’s height, the forecast is snow there; above it, rain.
- SR-207 at Daggett Summit / Tramway · 7,338 ft
- US-50 at Spooner Summit · 7,156 ft
- US-50 at Sierra at Tahoe / Echo Lake Eastbound · 6,909 ft
- US-50 at South Lake Tahoe / Pioneer Trail · 6,351 ft
- Pioneer Trail Eastbound 1 · 6,351 ft
- US-50 at Myers · 6,345 ft
- US-50 at Cave Rock · 6,321 ft
- SR-89 at South Lake Tahoe / US-50 · 6,286 ft
Heavenly, where the forecast is read, and the cameras around it.
Where this forecast comes from
The National Weather Service forecasts on a grid of cells about 2.5 kilometres across, and updates it through the day. This page reads the cell that holds the base area in South Lake Tahoe: Heavenly, issued by the NWS office in Reno, a cell whose average height is 7,175 ft. A cell’s average height can sit well below a summit, which is why the snow level is compared with the place itself. The snow total is the sum of the forecast’s own amounts for the next 72 hours; nothing is added to it, and no range is invented around it.
The full NWS forecast, with the forecaster’s discussion, is at forecast.weather.gov for Heavenly. For avalanche danger in the backcountry, read the Sierra Avalanche Center, not a snow total.
More for this trip
- How much snow is Tahoe getting: every pass, resort and town
- Do I need chains on Echo Summit right now?
- Do I need chains to get to Heavenly right now?
- When does Heavenly open? Opening day and lifts
- Heavenly webcams
- US-50 road conditions and cameras
- What to carry for a Sierra winter drive
Snow forecasts for the others: Palisades Tahoe · Northstar · Kirkwood · Sugar Bowl · Sierra-at-Tahoe · Boreal · and Donner Pass · Echo Summit · Mt Rose
Snow forecast: National Weather Service (api.weather.gov), public domain, read every 30 minutes. Not an official NWS product. Chain control: Caltrans and NDOT, read every five minutes. Nevada Explorer is not affiliated with the National Weather Service or with Heavenly. A forecast is not the road: confirm at roads.dot.ca.gov, nvroads.com or 511 before you travel.