last updated 2 Feb 2019
Winter | Summer | Any Time
Winter:
- Car damage from falling snow from the roof or trees. It depends on the condition of the snow. Soft snow is usually not a problem, but snow that has partially melted due to warmer weather during the day which freezes again a night, can drop heavy hard chunks of snow.
- Becoming snow bound when snow removal people can't keep up. It can be caused by a variety of things, like closed roads, equipment failure, cars blocking driveways, ...
- Possible I-80 closure (Closed for almost 24 hrs. after a storm dropped 4 feet of snow in February 2019).
It's not necessarily due the amount of snow, but from trucks sneaking thru without chains then slipping and jack-knifing blocking the highway.
- Possible ski area closures due to avalanche danger.
Avalanches occur depending on a variety of conditions, wet/dry snow, layers of different density, .... See Avalanche.org " Avalanche Problem
The cabin is on relatively flat ground and there has never been any evidence of avalanches on the mountain behind us.
- Potential road closures from flooding during Spring rain.
A subtropical storm
system originating in the central Pacific Ocean near the Hawaiian
Islands brought heavy rain to the Sierra Nevada from December
30, 1996, through January 3, 1997 which melted about 80% of the snowpack below 7,000 feet. Ward Creek at Highway 89 near Tahoe Pines flooded and there were road washouts between Tahoe City and Truckey closing the highway for several days.
See A New Year's Deluge - Tahoe Quarterly
...
Summer:
Fires:
Bears:
There Black Bears around. They are afraid of people, but if you leave food out they will come and get it. If you leave the door by the deck open when no one is home they will go right through the screen door and help themselves to what they can find in the kitchen.
See: Bear Etiquette
Other:
Hiking:
See my notes on Sierra Club Hiking in the Tahoe area at High Sierra Nevada Dangers (bears, rattlesnakes, ticks, mountain lions, poison oak)
The top 5 are:
- Blisters and bunions
- Sunburn See also Sunglasses
- Dehydration/Heat exhaustion. See Heat Index
- Strains, sprains and bruises - Rocks (sprained ankles, tripping, stubbing toes while wading without water shoes)
- Mosquitoes
Early summer after a year with a high snowpack presents dangers with swollen streams.
See Staying Safe in the Mountains - Trek Sierra Nevada
Any Time
Possible earthquake and tsunami 30 ft high.
Earthquakes strike every 3,000 to 4,000 years on the fault under the west side of the Lake. See Earthquake-Tusnami.
The West Tahoe Fault last moved 4,500 years ago
See Emergency Page for what to do.