It’s impossible to say how much more snow there will be in the Sierra Nevada

RENO, Nevada — No one really knows how much snow fell on the infamous Donner Lot when the pioneers were trapped on top of the Sierra Nevada for months and dozens died near Lake Tahoe during the winter of 1846-1847.

But this season has already made history as the second-most snowfall in 77 years of records at the Central Sierra Snow Lab—more than 56.4 feet (677 inches, 17.2 meters)—and there’s no end in sight.

And there’s still a chance he can beat the record of 67.7 feet (812 inches, 20.6 meters) set in 1951-52 when more than 200 passengers on a luxury train bound for San Francisco from Chicago got stranded on three days near Donner Pass west of Truckee, California.

Over the weekend, “a winter that just doesn’t want to end,” as the National Weather Service in Reno put it, broke the previous No. 2 record of 55.9 feet (671 inches, 17 meters) set in 1982-83. It was the second of consecutive blizzard seasons best remembered for the avalanche that claimed the lives of seven people at the Tahoe ski resort on March 31, 1982.

Since December, a pair of atmospheric storms have pelted the Sierra with so much snow that Tahoe’s ski resorts have been forced to close several times.

The final day of the Nevada High School Ski Championships has been cancelled. Roofs collapsed under the weight of snow, and schools closed for several days. Interstate 80 closed several times between Reno and Sacramento.

“It started early and seems to continue,” said Sparks’ Eric Sage, 45, who grew up in Truckee and worked his way through many big winters but remembers none. “Build up, big storm after big storm after big storm – bam, bam, bam.”

The official accountant is UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab, founded in 1946 in Soda Springs, California, northwest of Lake Tahoe.

“We have seen stronger storms in other years and years with higher snow water equivalent amounts … but the ruthlessness of this season probably makes it the most unique,” said Andrew Schwartz, lab manager and lead scientist.

More snow is forecast for the next 10 days, but no one knows what spring will bring.

“Historically, some of our big seasons have continued to be active well into the late spring,” said Tim Bardsley, National Weather Service senior hydrologist in Reno.

The official winter season coincides with the water year, starting on October 1st and ending on the following September 30th. Sometimes snow in the Sierra continues to fall in June.

To break the record of 1951-52 this winter, one would have to fall another 145 inches (368 cm) – unlikely, but not excluded.

“Basically, there is nothing to indicate that because we were so active, we would then have moved in the other direction,” Bardsley said. “I’d almost say it’s quite the opposite.”

In some of the snowiest winters after March 15, at least one quarter of their total for the season was recorded. What is now the fourth snowiest winter in 2010-2011 got 225 inches (572 cm) out of its 643 inches (1635 cm) – or 35%. after March 15th.

The snow lab has records dated 1880 based on measurements taken by the Southern Pacific Railroad. Unofficial measurements taken near the spot where the train got stuck in 1952 show that more snow may have fallen in 1938, and almost as much in 1880 and 1890.

The lab does not formally recognize these numbers because they were obtained from slightly different locations using a different methodology.

Mark McLaughlin, a Tahoe resident and author of several books on Sierra history and weather, accepts railroad numbers and believes that the snow that fell on Donner Party in 1846-1847 is similar to that of 1951-1952.

In the first two weeks of November 1846, ten violent storms brought rain and snow to the mountains. A monument at Donner Memorial State Park indicates that the snow reached 22.5 feet (6.9 meters) deep before some of the stranded resorted to cannibalism.

The third-ranked winter of 1982-83 followed the season when the deadliest Tahoe avalanche struck the Alpine Valley south of Truckee. About 90 inches (228 centimeters) of snow fell four days before the disaster.

The 1960 Winter Olympics, the first to be televised, put Lake Tahoe on the map after the world saw snow-capped mountains surrounding an alpine lake of turquoise water. But the winter itself got off to a slow start, and Olympic officials were in a panic in the weeks leading up to the games.

“There was no real snow by New Year’s and the Olympics were supposed to be in the third week of February,” McLaughlin said. “Then the storm door opened and it started snowing and snowing and snowing. There was so much snow that no one could practice skiing in the mountains.”

Writer Peggy Townsend and her husband, the parents of professional skier Cody Townsend, said they were amazed by the piles of snow when they arrived at their cabin in the Olympic Valley area near the base of the Tahoe ski resort last month. They had to park on the road and cut through 10 feet (3 meters) of snow.

“We had to dig three to four times a day to get to the woodpile,” said Peggy Townsend. Four days later, they had had enough.

“When it snowed,” she recalled, “we just said, ‘We’re going to get the hell out of here.’

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Associated Press co-author Jake Blayberg of Dallas contributed to this report.

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This story corrects an earlier version showing that 671 inches (17 meters) of snow was recorded in 1982-83.

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