What’s that white stuff? It’s actually snow

RENO — A storm brought much-needed snow to the drought-stricken Sierra Nevada and caused major headaches for mountain travelers on Saturday.

The Sugar Bowl ski resort near Donner Summit says the storm that hit the region Friday afternoon had dropped up to 2 feet of snow by early Saturday afternoon.

The Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows and Northstar resorts just north of Lake Tahoe reported 16-17 inches of new snow and Heavenly on Tahoe’s south shore received as much as 8 inches of new snow. The Reno area got up to 4 inches of snow.

Chains or snow tires were required on highways around Tahoe, including U.S. 50 over Echo Summit and Highway 88 over Carson Pass.

The storm was welcome news for a region struggling with a fourth straight dry winter.

The National Weather Service called for another chance of snow around Tahoe today and Monday.