Is Dumping Big Snow in Truckee-Tahoe, California Winter Storm 2011

Big snow in California? Excuse me, you did say California; that's the sunshine state known for growing every food imaginable and having such pleasant weather, right? Hey, isn't it also known for palm trees, Hollywood tans, surfing in Malibu, sweltering in Death Valley, rocking to the Beach Boys while cruising convertibles and turning heads in bikinis down the Venice Beach Boardwalk?

Yeah, it's all that too, but in the Sierra Nevada mountain range around Lake Tahoe and Truckee there's another side of California and it's a Northern thing. Up North in the winter when the weather comes a-callin' you might hear an unfamiliar Cali saying; "Is dumping!"
You mean, it's dumping, right? It's would be grammatically correct. Nope, the saying is; "Is dumping!" There's no need for grammar when the snow piles up so fast one finishes snow-blowing the driveway and has to turn around and do it again.
The above is a picture of my house which hasn't had snow for well over a month as an early spring had settled in. Just a few days ago there was nothing but shingles on the roof and grass spots popping up in the yard. Look at it now. Look at it! That white stuff just arrived since Wednesday.
What kind of snow are we talking about? Ski areas like Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows report 87 inches (221 cm) at base area and 126 inches (320 cm) at mid-mountain over the last 4 days.
In the town of Truckee, it's business as usual. Well, sort of. Sometimes they have trouble finding new places to store the snow from the streets, so the plows just make great big piles of it in...well, the street, why not? Yeah, that's different. Before you know it with a storm like this, the whole town is one monstrous pile of snow after another. Going out to lunch at Panda turns into going out to lunch at Panda next to a humungous pile of snow! This was the scene at Panda restaurant in Truckee. That little building on the right is Panda and that crazy-ass pile of plowed snow I'm standing on arrived in the previous 3 days. Reservation for party of one! I'll have the mandarin chicken.
Didn't they say it snowed, for like, 40 days or something before Noah finally decided to build the arc? Wow, I don't know how I'd perform under that kind of  pressure. After just a few days of dealing with this, I'm not sure how much more I can take.
I know this Stop sign can't take much more. Since this photo was taken it might already be buried, no longer warning anyone of the present need to stop before proceeding. Seems kinda dangerous in a driver-safety sorta way.
This is the feeling when you just want the weather to chill and give you a chance to catch up. Then you realize, this has just been for a few days. That's all? What if it snowed like this for a week or a month or the whole winter? Anna, this is God getting back to you, sorry about the delay but for your own sake please don't ask such questions.
You know the US postal service? They've got a little slogan that goes something like this; "And neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor the winds of change, nor a nation challenged, will stay us from the swift completion of our appointed rounds. Ever." Wow, pretty sure of themselves. In this case it might be changed to, "What the heck, today the mail might make it there, maybe not. Ever."

We don't always know what to do with ourselves when the kids have a snow day off from school... or two... or three and ultimately get kinda bored. Shoveling the back deck seems to drive them bonkers, especially after the fourth time. They also tire of the board games from the closet, even the ones that haven't been used in years: Parcheesi and Yahtzee, all the games that end in the "zee" sound. With so much pent-up energy compounded by the low pressure system, a parent might lose better judgment momentarily telling their kid to go jump off the roof, and the kid might reply, "There could be a need to test Newton's law of gravity and the actual snow density from these storms." Truckee translation; perfect time for the old family tradition of launching oneself off the roof.
Here's my 12 year old daughter, Devan Matthews, performing an acrobatic assault from the second story into the front yard. Normally, this would be a twelve foot plunge into a very painful landing. In this case, we're guessing the 5 feet of fresh powder might possibly cushion her buttocks. Okay, Devan, go ahead and jump, as if she needs me to tell her. Poof.
Yep, looks like she's doing okay on this 3rd straight no-school-Truckee-snow-day if you ask me.
"Anyone seen the weather forecast? Dumping? Okay, thanks."

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