Cloudy President's Day in Carson

Finally.

Mother Nature graced Lake Tahoe over the holiday weekend with a long awaited dumping. But the snow fell far short of making up for this month's deficit. Some areas in the basin have less than half the average amount of snowfall for February.

The South Shore received 6 to 10 inches of snow Saturday night, with ski resorts reporting about 2 feet at their summits.

"We can hear the hooting and hollering all over the mountain. Everyone's in good spirits," Sierra-at-Tahoe spokeswoman Nicole Belt said Sunday morning.

The usual Tahoe snowfall between the West and East shores for February -- considered a banner winter month in the Sierra Nevada ski region -- is 35 inches, according to the National Weather Service. Glenbrook's 7 inches accumulated halfway through the month shows weather patterns way behind February's usual 21.2 inches.

And this week's forecast has no major dumps, meteorologist Larry Brown added.

Still, skiers and boarders enjoyed the extra layer Sunday, as the Tahoe blue sky poked through the clouds.

Jason West, standing on Heavenly Ski Resort's California Base Lodge deck with a cast on his fractured ankle, soaked in the sunshine. The Santa Cruz man waited for his girlfriend to make her way off the hill.

"I told her if she wanted to go snowboarding, then let's go," West said.

Vehicles lined the slope of Ski Run Boulevard -- with skiers, boarders and sledding enthusiasts making their way up the hill.

On the steep slopes of Gunbarrel, Kevin Lester of San Luis Obispo bounded over the moguls and powder.

"It worked out perfectly," Lester said, pleased he planned his Tahoe visit around a storm without huge crowds.

He gravitated toward the trees to seize carving opportunities in the fresh powder.

Heavenly lift operator Laura Dombroski said the tree skiing was the place to be Sunday, mentioning Mott Canyon and the western perimeter as places of interest. Dombroski carved first tracks that morning.

Belt agreed with the assessment, especially with all of Sierra-at-Tahoe's backcountry gates open.

She noticed many people buying half-day passes.

"I think a lot of people waited to see what the weather would bring," Belt said. "We've seen better Presidents Day weekends. We're hoping even though February got off to a slow start we may be looking at a more traditional February."

The busy weekend brought about a few skid outs but was relatively slow for accidents on the road, law enforcement reported, with the exception of a single-vehicle rollover on Highway 50 east of Spooner Summit.

Carson City residents should expect to celebrate a cloudy President's Day because National Weather service forecasts call for a cold Pacific weather system moving eastward from Northern California.

Temperatures are not expected to climb any higher than the 40s today.

There is a chance the wet snow flurries that left Carson coated with a thin layer of ice Sunday morning will return tonight. The weather service is saying there is a 20 percent chance of snow for both tonight and Tuesday.

Unsettled conditions are expected through the week -- increasing the chance of snow Wednesday to 40 percent as a cold front approaches from the west. The chance of precipitation drops again by Wednesday night to the 20 percent range, according to the weather service.

There were no closures on any Nevada highways Sunday night, except the usual Highway 395 wind advisory along Washoe Lake.

"Campers and trailers not advised from 14 south of Reno to Carson City," the recorded Nevada Department of Transportation telephone road condition report stated.

-- Karl Horeis contributed to this story.