When it starts
Palisades Tahoe, Dec 20–26, 2025: the model's run on the day said 24.6" skiable over 7 days, best Friday at 10.5" (Full Send); the Palisades Tahoe SNOTEL pillow gained 34" of depth. Close.
Close. 24.6" skiable in the model, 34" on the pillow: inside 3" or 30%.
Pack going in: 2" on Dec 19, 0" on Dec 20. The storm total counts from the first reading, so snow after 5pm the night before is in it.
| Day | Call | First chair | On hill | Skiable | Starts | Pillow before | Pillow after | Gain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat Dec 20 | Stay home | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.1" | — | 0" | 4" | +4" |
| Sun Dec 21 | Stay home | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.1" | — | 4" | 12" | +8" |
| Mon Dec 22 | Nice day | 2.4" | 0.5" | 2.8" | ~9pm Sunday | 12" | 12" | 0" |
| Tue Dec 23 | Stay home | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0" | — | 12" | 32" | +20" |
| Wed Dec 24 | Nice day | 0.0" | 4.0" | 4.1" | ~8am | 32" | 32" | 0" |
| Thu Dec 25 | Nice day | 2.3" | 4.7" | 7.0" | ~5pm Wednesday | 32" | 41" | +9" |
| Fri Dec 26 | Full Send | 8.9" | 1.6" | 10.5" | ~5pm Thursday | 41" | 36" | -5" |
Model: the run on the day (Open-Meteo Previous Runs, best_match). PowHound does not keep superseded live forecasts, so this is not the number you saw the night before. It is usually closer.
Clocks, local time: first chair 5pm–8am, on hill 8am–5pm, skiable is both. Stay home under 2", Nice day 2–8", Full Send 8" or more.
Pillow: snow depth at the Palisades Tahoe SNOTEL station, read once a day around midnight. A day's gain is the next midnight reading minus that day's, so it runs midnight to midnight, not 5pm to 5pm. Depth is not snowfall: new snow settles and blows around, so the pillow usually reads under what fell. Not the resort report.
Verdict: close is within 3" or 30%. Season numbers and method: llms.txt.