Submitted by North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District, written by Tia Rancourt

US NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO ISSUES BLIZZARD WARNING

US National Weather Service Reno has issued a Blizzard Warning in effect from 10 a.m. Thursday, February 29 through 10 a.m. Sunday, March 3, 2024 for the greater Lake Tahoe area.

A Blizzard Warning means severe winter weather conditions are expected or occurring. Falling and blowing snow with strong winds are likely. This will lead to whiteout conditions, making travel extremely dangerous. Do not travel. If you must travel, have a winter survival kit with you. If you get stranded, stay in your vehicle.

Additionally, the Sierra Avalanche Center has issued a Backcountry Avalanche Watch in effect from 7 a.m. Friday, March 1st through 5 p.m. Sunday, March 3, 2024 for high to extreme avalanche danger for the Greater Lake Tahoe area.

Reminder Winter Preparedness Tips:

• Make sure you have working smoke alarms installed in every bedroom and outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home. Test them monthly.
• Make sure you have working CO alarms installed in a central location outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home. Test them monthly. If your utility vents are located on the side of your home, make sure to keep them clear as snow accumulation can cause carbon monoxide to back up into the house.
• Plan two ways out of the home in case of an emergency.
• Clear driveway and front walk of ice and snow. This will provide easy access to your home.
• Make sure your house number can be seen from the street. If you need help, first responders will be able to find you.
• Be ready in case the power goes out. Have flashlights on hand. Also have battery-powered lighting and fresh batteries.
• If you have a portable generator, it should be used outdoors in a well-ventilated area, away from all doors, windows, and vents. Do not run a generator inside your garage, even if the door is open. Do not use a generator in a wet area. This can cause shock or electrocution. Connect appliances to the generator with heavy-duty extension cords. Do not fuel your generator when it is running. Spilling gas on a hot engine can cause a fire. 
• Stay away from downed wires. Report any downed wires to authorities.
• Be ready if the heat stops working. Use extra layers of clothes and blankets to stay warm. If you use an emergency heat source, follow manufacturer’s guidelines, and keep anything that can burn at least 3 feet away.
• Turn portable heaters off when you leave the room and turn them off when you go to bed.
• Know where your gas meter shed is located and keep it clear.
• Have your furnace inspected and serviced by a qualified professional.
• Have your chimney cleaned and inspected by a qualified professional. Not cleaning your chimney is the leading cause of chimney fires from built up creosote. 
• Have a covered metal container to dispose of cooled ashes. To obtain a free ash can, residents may fill out an application, available at the Fire District Administration Office, 866 Oriole Way, Incline Village. If the required criteria are met, an ash can will be provided. Please visit our website for more information on our Ash Can program.
• Snow accumulations can fall and harm/kill you, depending on their size. Clear roofs of excessive snow and ice buildup, being careful not to damage vents and electrical supplies to the building. Clearing the roof can be dangerous so residents are advised to leave this work to professionals.
• Keep all chimneys and vents clear to prevent carbon monoxide from backing up into the building. Some vents, such as pellet stove vents, may exit the building through a wall and are susceptible to being blocked by excessive snow buildup.
• Be aware that a roof may collapse with little or no warning. The following warning signs could indicate that you have a danger of roof collapse. You should immediately evacuate the building and notify your local building official, fire department, or contact a structural engineer to determine if the building is safe if you observe the following:
• severe or new roof leaks.
• cracked or split wood members.
• bends or ripples in metal supports
• recent cracks in walls, gypboard or masonry.
• cracks in welds of steel construction.
• sprinkler heads pushed down below ceiling tiles.
• doors that pop open.
• doors or windows that are difficult to open.
• bowed utility pipes or conduits attached to the ceiling; or creaking, cracking, or popping sounds.
• Keep all exits clear of snow, so that occupants can escape quickly if a fire, or other emergencies, should occur. Keep in mind that windows should be cleared to allow a secondary means of escape in case the primary means of escape is blocked by fire. Keeping exits clear also allows emergency workers to gain access to your building.

Travel Tips (if you must travel):

• Store emergency supplies in your car (blanket, change of clothes, flashlight, food, water).
• Carry a charged cell phone.
• Keep ice scraper/snow brush.
• Keep the gas tank full.
• Check national weather service, state department of transportation or local media prior to travel.
• Allow extra time and expect delays, road closures or detours.

If you are caught in winter storm and/or stranded:

• Stay with your vehicle and wait for help.
• Display a sign of trouble to let people know you need help.
• Occasionally run the engine to keep it warm. Keep the exhaust pipe clear of snow to prevent deadly carbon monoxide fumes from entering the car.
• If more than one person is in the car, take turns sleeping.
• Layer clothing to trap body heat to keep warm.

Helpful Contact Phone Numbers/Websites:

• NV 511 Traveler Information System – Call 511 within Nevada or 877-NVROADS outside of Nevada,www.safetravelusa.com/nv
• CAL TRANS Road Conditions – Call 800/427-7623, http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/
• US National Weather Service Reno Call 775/673-8100,  https://www.weather.gov/rev/
• Incline Village General Improvement District (IVGID) Public Works – Call 775/832-1203,https://www.yourtahoeplace.com/ivgid
• Washoe County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) – Call 775/328-3001, https://www.washoesheriff.com/
• North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District (NLTFPD) – Call 775/831-0351, www.nltfpd.org
• Southwest Gas (SWG) Emergency Dispatch – 800/772-4555 (Northern Nevada and California), https://www.swgas.com/
• NV Energy – Call 775/834-4100, https://www.nvenergy.com/
• Liberty Utilities – Call 800/782-2506,  https://libertyutilities.com/
• Sierra Avalanche Center – Call 530-587-3558, ext. 257 https://www.sierraavalanchecenter.org/contact-us
• Washoe County Emergency Management – Call 775/337-5898, https://www.washoecounty.gov/em/
• Washoe County Community Services/Snow & Ice/Where’s My Plow/IVCB Winter Parking – https://www.washoecounty.gov/csd/operations/roads/Snow%20and%20Ice/index.php
• Code Red Regional Alert Notification – https://www.washoecounty.gov/em/RegionalAlerts.php

IN AN EMERGENCY, CALL 911

Originally Published in The Tahoe Daily Tribune on 2/25/24, Submitted

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. – The Lake Tahoe region’s most fun and scenic SkiMo competition – the Luggi Foeger Uphill/Downhill Festival – returns to Diamond Peak Ski Resort on March 23 & 24, 2024 for another weekend of human-powered adventure and friendly competition.

Named in honor of Luggi Foeger – the founder and original general manager of Diamond Peak ski resort when it opened in 1966 – the Uphill/Downhill Festival is a family-friendly event that celebrates human-powered sports, mountain culture, local craft beer and springtime in the Lake Tahoe region.

Competitors race up the mountain using whatever human-powered method they prefer – skins, snowshoes, running shoes, etc. – then ski, snowboard, snowshoe or run back down to the finish line. 

READ MORE >

Photo credit Diamond Peak

Originally Published in The Tahoe Daily Tribune on 2/27/24, Written by Katelyn Welsh

GREATER LAKE TAHOE AREA, Nev./Calif. – The National Weather Service has high confidence an encroaching multi-day storm will bring very heavy snow and potentially damaging winds. They say blizzard conditions are likely and could bring this season’s heaviest snowfall.

A Winter Storm Watch begins late Wednesday night through Sunday morning. The storm is expected to produce between 2-4 feet of snow in Lake Tahoe communities. At elevations above 7,000 feet, potentially 4-8 feet are possible. 

Wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour in lower elevations and 100 at Sierra ridges could damage trees and power lines. 

READ MORE >

Photo Credit: Kristin Derrin

Beer has been bringing people together and building community (and even civilizations!) for thousands of years, and Team Alibi is proud to carry that torch. From providing our beer to events around the region, offering our venues for fundraisers, to raising money through clothing swaps and concerts and creatively collaborating with non-profits whenever possible, we supported 35+ organizations in 2023!⁠

We are so proud to be a staple in our North Tahoe/Truckee community. We’d like to express a huge and heart-felt THANK YOU to YOU – our community – for supporting us so we can, in turn, support the many local organizations that make our world a better place.

At a time when our world is feeling increasingly divided, let’s remember that we are ONE interconnected and interdependent community. When you choose to support local non-profits and locally-owned businesses, you are helping to build a more resilient community. It’s that simple, and it’s more important than ever. And that’s something we can all raise a pint to. Cheers!

Submitted online from Alibi

Introduction

Travel North Tahoe Nevada (formerly known as the Incline Village Crystal Bay Visitors Bureau) has begun the process of creating a Strategic Plan to guide our next few years. To facilitate the process, we have retained Whereabout, a destination strategy consulting firm. This 15-minute survey is the first step in collecting the information they need to assess our current state and prepare for an informed strategic planning process. We want to hear from key stakeholders who are part of our region’s tourism industry, and appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions.

Please complete your response by close of business on March 6th.

READ MORE & TAKE SURVEY >

What Would Mark Twain Say?

Having snuggled comfortably into the 19^th century as an impressionist of Mark Twain, I maintain a semblance of comfort through eye-to-eye contact. As an example, I had the luxury of watching this year’s Super Bowl on television with 30 or so old high school pals who shouted their prophesies above the humdrum of the paid announcers…

“Reba McEntire is going to hold that last note like a grudge, just watch! Take the over and watch the game a richer man!” (And he was right.)

Riding a time machine back to 1874 when the super-information highway was the Mississippi River, our mutual friend Mark Twain is said to have been the very first person in the world to apply a typewriter to literature…

“They say The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was the first partially typed manuscript.  It was a Remington, and it threw me into such fits of profanity that I found I was losing my morals, so I gave it to Howells, who hadn’t any morals.” 

We have to believe that Tom & Huck might look a little different to us today if Twain had access to artificial intelligence. And too, Twain’s good friend William Dean Howells might have been a little better off.

Add to that, Alexander Graham Bell bequeathed to Twain the first telephone in a private residence, but he took it out when he didn’t get any calls…

Personally, I have an aversion to AI because it has no thumbs, and I don’t pay much attention to anything that does not have, or had, thumbs. Besides, with not much time left on this curious planet, I’m confident I can get along quite well without AI helping me close my last chapters.

But getting back to Twain’s experience with the typewriter, he wrote from Florence in 1904, “In the beginning, a type-machine was a curiosity. The person who owned one was a curiosity too. But now it is the other way about: the person who does not own one is a curiosity.” 

Over his professional life, Mark Twain was a heat-seeker. He dreamed of being a titan of industry, and thank goodness he failed in those dreams, or we might never have met A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.

As it is, the 18,000 published pages Twain left us are a product of his entrepreneurial excesses and failures. Then there is the dedication of his loving wife and editor, Olivia, and finally, we have the father of American literature.

As is our custom, we shall leave the last word to Mark Twain…

“After a year or two I found the type-machine was degrading my character, so I thought I would give it to Howells. He was reluctant, for he was suspicious of novelties, but I got him to believe things about the machine that I did not believe myself. He took it home, and my morals began to improve, but his have never recovered.”

Audio: https://anchor.fm/mcavoy-layne