Tahoe Withstands Another Wintry Barrage

SODA SPRINGS (CBS SF) – The calendar may say it is Spring, but you can't really tell in the Lake Tahoe area where Mother Nature is refusing to release her wintry grip.

Highway 80 was closed Tuesday morning as heavy snowfall and winds created treacherous driving conditions.

Caltrans cleared a big rig crash east of the summit on eastbound 80 at around 9:15 a.m. The transportation agency's Donner Pass supervisor Dave Wood said once the freeway was reopened, chains would be required.

"You probably hear the avalanche cannons going off in the background at the ski resorts," he said on a Facebook post. "The snow is very wet and heavy."

The National Weather Service said as much as a foot of new snow would fall on the summit until the storm passed late Wednesday.

So far this year, Kirkwood, Northstar and Heavenly ski resorts have all received over 50 feet of snow with another major storm expected on Friday-Saturday.

The California Department of Water Resources reported Tuesday that the statewide snowpack was 158% of normal for that date.

In the central Sierra which includes the Tahoe area, the DWR has 42 sensors that report the snow level in the region is 170 percent of normal.

The announcement is not really news to Cathy and Stewart Gould who have a home in Soda Springs.

"A few week ago we couldn't even get into our cabin," Cathy Gould said. "We had to dig it out."

Cathy Gould said the grueling winter has worn down her and her family.

"We spent one day from 10 until 4 just shoveling out driveway so we could get our car back into the driveway so that they could plow (the street)," she said. "That was a very frustrating day for us."

But there are some encouraging signs. The snow on the deck that has been piled up the top of the sliding glass door has receded just a bit.

"This is great right now," she said. "We can walk out (on the deck) and the dog can go out to go to the bathroom."