Avalanche — Greater Lake Tahoe Area, Nevada

2025-12-25 · Greater Lake Tahoe Area, Nevada

Event narrative

An avalanche near Mt. Rose summit on Christmas Day buried a skier for over an hour before contacting authorities and SAR. Time of report is estimated per news story descriptions. The man trapped in the avalanche was found by the SAR team and was cold and tired, but uninjured and able to walk. The backcountry avalanche risk was high per the Sierra Avalanche Center and Warnings were in place.

Wider weather episode

A multi-day storm brought 1.5-3 of rain across the main urban areas of far western NV, with 0.25-1 totals into other portions of northwest NV and east of the Reno-Carson City region to remaining areas west of US-95, with less than 0.25' near and east of US-95 in west central NV. The highest totals were observed on Christmas Eve. Snowfall in the Sierra from this multi-day event was generally 3-6 feet in areas above 7000 feet, with 1-2 feet down to lake level in the Tahoe Basin. For western NV, snowfall was limited to 1' or less below 5000 feet, with 1-5' in foothill locations between 5000-6000 feet, and up to 9' above 6000 feet near Virginia City.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1300886. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.