SR-89 road conditions
Yes — SR-89 is open, with no chain controls in effect.
Checked against Caltrans District 3. Confirm at Caltrans before you travel.
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).
The west shore, Tahoe City past Emerald Bay to South Lake Tahoe, and north to Truckee and Sierraville.
SR-89: questions answered
Webcams by town: Truckee webcams, South Lake Tahoe webcams and Tahoe City webcams.
Weather at Echo Summit
- Today
- Sunny
- Temperature
- 46°F
- Wind
- 7 to 10 mph
- Zone
- CAZ136
This forecast could not be refreshed on the last run and may be out of date.
Snow, next 72 hours at Echo Summit: none · How much snow is Echo Summit getting →
Forecast read
Cameras and chain-control points on SR-89
8 cameras and 21 chain-control points. Click a camera marker to open it.
What to know in winter
Emerald Bay is the first stretch to close and the last to reopen — avalanche terrain above the road.
If it closes: Round the east shore on SR-28 and US-50.
Caltrans chain controls come in three levels. R-1 means chains or snow tires. R-2 means chains unless you are in a four-wheel drive with snow tires on all four wheels — this is the one most drivers meet. R-3 means chains on everything, no exceptions, and it usually means a closure is not far behind. The whole road is inside California.
Textile snow socks count as chains in California and are approved in Nevada, except on three Tahoe roads where NDOT's rule names chains: are snow socks legal in chain controls. Which to buy: cable chains, snow socks or link chains.
Chain-control points, highest first
Caltrans does not control the whole road at once. Controls go up at whichever point matches the snow level, which is why the same storm produces controls in different places on different days.
No controls are up anywhere on SR-89 right now.
All 21 control points on SR-89
| Point | Elevation | Near | Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luther Pass | 7,732 ft | Markleeville | Clear |
| Bliss State Park | 6,840 ft | Tahoma | Clear |
| Emerald Bay | 6,624 ft | South Lake Tahoe | Clear |
| Christmas Valley | 6,505 ft | South Lake Tahoe | Clear |
| Little Truckee Summit | 6,430 ft | Loyalton | Clear |
| Tahoma ( Co line / Sugar Pine ) | 6,332 ft | Tahoma | Clear |
| Tahoma - Eldo / Placer Co Line | 6,305 ft | Tahoma | Clear |
| Harper's Grade | 6,292 ft | Tahoma | Clear |
| Ebrights | 6,289 ft | South Lake Tahoe | Clear |
| Tahoe City | 6,246 ft | Tahoe City | Clear |
| Olympic Valley | 6,171 ft | Olympic Valley | Clear |
| Onion Valley - 17 Miles n/o Truckee | 6,059 ft | Sierraville | Clear |
| Prosser Dam Road - Truckee | 5,977 ft | Truckee | Clear |
| Truckee - West River St | 5,928 ft | Truckee | Clear |
| Hobart Mills | 5,853 ft | Truckee | Clear |
| Hobart Mills - ECC only | 5,853 ft | Truckee | Clear |
| Sattley (Jct. 89/49) | 5,036 ft | Calpine | Clear |
| Sierraville | 5,026 ft | Sierraville | Clear |
| Calpine | 4,973 ft | Calpine | Clear |
| Sattley | 4,937 ft | Calpine | Clear |
| Sierra / Plumas County Line | 4,665 ft | Clio | Clear |
21 control points, collapsed from 26 feed records — Caltrans lists each point once per direction.
Cameras on SR-89
Ski resorts reached by SR-89
Every Tahoe resort's opening day, snow and forecast →
Other roads
- I-80
Sacramento to the Utah line, over Donner Pass and then across northern Nevada.
- SR-431 Mt Rose
The Mt Rose Highway, Reno to Incline Village — the highest year-round pass in the Sierra Nevada.
- SR-267
Truckee to Kings Beach over Brockway Summit.
- SR-28
The north and east shore road, Tahoe City to Incline Village and on to Spooner.
- US-50
Reno and Carson City to South Lake Tahoe and on to Sacramento, over Spooner and Echo Summit.
- US-395
The north–south spine through Reno and Carson City, running south past Gardnerville toward the Eastern Sierra.
- SR-207
Kingsbury Grade, the short climb from the Carson Valley to Stateline and South Lake Tahoe.
- SR-88 Carson Pass
Carson Pass, from the Carson Valley over to Jackson and the Central Valley.
- Reno city cameras
.
Chain-control status and closures: Caltrans District 3 (public domain). Camera images: Caltrans (public domain) and Nevada DOT / nvroads.com. Weather: National Weather Service — not an official NWS product. Always confirm at roads.dot.ca.gov or nvroads.com before you travel.