After spending the past few weeks staring at the skies and searching for storm clouds over the Sierras, the locals up in Tahoe have finally sought out an expert opinion on why there's no snow around the lake this season. In an interview with UnofficialNetworks, Zach Tolby, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, explains this year's crappy La Niña in terms Joe and Judy Ski Bunny can understand: more ›

Things haven't gotten any better up in the Sierras after the complete lack of snow made national headlines last week. The high temperature for Squaw Valley was expected to hit 65 degrees today — not a good sign for a mountain where the latest snowfall was a light dusting three weeks ago. more ›

We've been getting our share of chilly air here in the city, but this December dry spell hasn't exactly done much for the base on the slopes up in the Sierras. In fact, the complete lack of winter weather around Lake Tahoe (and the rest of the country, it seems) has gotten so bad it made national news last night. NBC Nightly News, with Lester Holt sitting in for Brian Williams, brings us Mike Taibbi's report, with a cameo from Squaw Valley CEO Andy Wirth: more ›

"Dateline" by Troy Holden. more ›

A new and alarming study out of U.C. Davis projects that snowfall in Tahoe will decrease by a third in the next forty years, and by two thirds by the end of the century, assuming humankind continues to ignore climate change trends. Researchers from Davis and U.S. Geological Survey completed the study recently, which is one of the most detailed and comprehensive projections of its kind to be done on the localized level. more ›

Yesterday, a woman walked into the Concord Police Department claiming to be Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was kidnapped in 1991 in Lake Tahoe. Dugard, now 29, "was last seen on June 10, 1991 as she was walking to a bus stop in South Lake Tahoe." As her mother Carl Probyn "looked on from the family’s driveway two blocks away, a gray sedan pulled up and someone yanked Jaycee into the car and sped off." Two people have since been arrested in connection with her dissappearence. According to the Chronicle Probyn, 60, said, "I gave up hope for 18 years, just went into recovery mode. I thought it would be nice just to recover her and capture the people and find out why they did this," said Probyn. "Now, I just won the lotto. It's just unbelievable. This is going to be a great day today." Probyn is en route from Orange County Riverside to reunite with her daughter. more ›

Patrick Frost, 35, and Christopher Gerwig, 32, of San Francisco are still nowhere to be found since reported missing since reported missing last Saturday night at Alpine Meadows, just north of Lake Tahoe. Described as "expert skiers," Frost and Gerwig were last seen on Saturday morning at an Alpine Meadows bar "listening to advice about different outlying areas to ski." more ›

Update: It's raining. more ›

Just because we haven't seen him around these parts of the Internets lately, here's an ancient shot of Gov. (oy) Arnold Schwarzenegger taking some time to curl a dumbbell he found wildfire remains in South Lake Tahoe. A truly amazing shot, Jeff. more ›

Photo of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom behind the wheel of a Tesla Motors Roadster protoype in Fisherpersons Wharf more ›

-- Large Lake Tahoe fire under control. [Oakland Tribune, via AP] more ›

The wildfire raging up near Lake Tahoe reminded us of our dear old cousin Mark. Mark Twain, that is, and what we remembered was his own brush with accidental arson up Tahoe way. It's a little-known fact, if "fact" be something that can safely ascribed to Twain's baroquely embellished reminiscences of his years out West, that he was solely responsible for a horrendous forest fire on the shores of Lake Tahoe. It was 1861,... more ›

A few photos of Lake Tahoe and Squaw Valley more ›

If there's ever more proof needed that the end of the world is coming, we give you news that it snowed up in Tahoe today. Isn't this what happens in all the movies right before the end, you know, the freakish storms hit just around the time people who dismissed the scientists nobody believed start to believe? Didn't Nostradamus write about this as happening just before the apocalypse comes when some short little midget type person with a weird puffy hairdo gets the bomb? more ›

Total number of people in this week's Swells column: 61. more ›

Drag-racing on 101 -- such a bad idea, even if you don't kill members of the Tongan royal family. Grieving Tongans have left so many mementos at the site of last Wednesday's accident that CHP determined the area was a traffic hazard and removed everything that had been left. When the reporter was there, six vehicles pulled off by the side of the road to pay their respects, which CHP says isn't the safest thing to do on 101 North. more ›

The great thing about Lake Tahoe is that it's really two destinations in one -- summer or winter, there's lots of really great stuff to do. Last weekend we were up for the winter sports thanks to Costco offering four lift tickets to Diamond Peak for only $113. Along with our equpment rental, a day on the slopes only cost us $55, which is a pretty sweet deal for California. Of course act now -- while where we grew up the only thing that shut down spring skiing was all the snow melting, in California they shut down the lifts even with over a hundred inches of base because people stop showing up to ski, so the close of the season is fast approaching. more ›

Bay Area crime roundup more ›