Palisades Tahoe is a ski area in California, United States. It runs from 1890 m at the base to 2760 m at the summit. Within 2.5 km of the centre, the map shows 77 marked runs and 22 lifts, totalling about 44 km of piste. Over the last three winters the ERA5 reanalysis gives it 394 cm of snowfall a season, 174th (tied) of the 3,112 ski areas we measure worldwide. The model runs well below what resorts report, so the ranking is the meaningful part rather than the centimetre figure. The nearest city of any size is Reno, about 52 km away. 2 official live cameras are linked below. 15 other ski areas lie within 120 km. Snow figures and the Powder Score are recalculated every day.
We do not show a snow depth here. The weather model we use reports snow lying on the ground — it knows nothing about grooming or snowmaking, and it is not the base depth a ski area publishes. In Japan we can check our figures against 234 weather stations. Outside Japan there is nothing to check them against, so we do not print a number we have not verified. Snow report on the official site ↗
Score breakdown
Powder Score v1.0.0
7-day outlook
| Date | Snow | Temp | Wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☁️ 26 Sept | 0 | 5.8 / 16.8 | 29.8 |
| ☁️ 27 Sept | 0 | 4.6 / 13.8 | 27.8 |
| ☁️ 28 Sept | 0 | 3.9 / 17 | 11.4 |
| ☁️ 29 Sept | 0 | 3.2 / 21.3 | 9.8 |
| ☀️ 30 Sept | 0 | 6 / 25.9 | 18.1 |
| ☁️ 1 Oct | 0 | 7.4 / 22.7 | 20 |
| ☁️ 2 Oct | 0 | 7.9 / 22 | 15.3 |
Runs and lifts
Counted from the runs and lifts drawn on OpenStreetMap, within the boundary of the ski area. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
Run map
The shape of the mountain
Which way the slopes face
87% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. Those slopes get the least sun, so the snow lasts longer.
By difficulty
Lift types
- Chairlift21
- Magic carpet6
- Gondola2
- Cable car1
See past trail maps on Skimap.org ↗
Source: OpenSkiMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0). How finely ski areas are drawn varies by region, so treat the counts as indicative. Vertical is the difference between the highest and lowest points of the mapped runs and lifts.
Live Cameras
Road conditions decide whether you can get there at all. Check before you leave.
Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.
How much snow it gets
Measured by us across 3,112 ski areas by one identical method. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
Compared with what is nearby
Within 50 km straight line. Measured the same way, so the ranks compare directly. Ski areas a few kilometres apart share a weather grid cell and can return the same figure.
| Ski area | Distance | Seasonal snowfall | World rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palisades Tahoe Alpine Meadows | 5.0 km | 503 cm | 71 |
| Northstar at Tahoe Resort | 10 km | 318 cm | 408 |
| Sugar Bowl Resort | 14 km | 550 cm | 55 |
| Homewood Ski Area | 14 km | 477 cm | 84 |
| Homewood Snowcat Adventures | 14 km | 477 cm | 84 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in December. March brings 98% of January’s snowfall. That is a gentler fall than the median for ski areas in the United States (85%). In amount, March brings 118 cm, more than the median of 30 cm.
Map
Where it sits relative to nearby resorts. For a piste map, see the official site.
Official piste map ↗More places to look
Updated: 26 Sept 2026, 23:28