What a strange snow year this was. We had an early storm in December that made for skiing during the winter holidays, then during January we had no snow and a month of warm temperatures and mild weather. In San Francisco, it got so warm people were wearing shorts to the beach, bringing their kids to frolic in the sand. It seemed like an endless Indian summer and more like the weather we sometimes get in late-September. This rarely happens in January or February.
Early February came and we were hit by a significant storm. This was the one when a backcountry ski group at Donner Summit got caught in a tragic avalanche. After that the warm weather came back and it got to sometimes 65 degrees at 10,000 feet. The sun was out and a lot of snow melted. In early April things changed once again with a few late season storms that added a few feet of snow to the meager snowpack.
As of April 20th, most ski resorts are closed. Many did close early this year. Generally the snowpack is very low. See: https://snow.water.ca.gov/.
I had the arduous assignment as the SF Journal travel correspondent, confirming these weather totals, at one point waiting out a storm for a few hours in Colfax, California before barely making it over Donner Summit. Later in April, we were able to enjoy a few days at Kirkwood, a ski resort that stayed open the longest.
The 2025/26 Ski Season Sierra Photo Gallery
