After years of mostly disappointing winter snowfall totals in and around Lake Tahoe, the winter of 2017 is looking to be a sweet one for local skiers and snowboarders — some of whom may have forgotten to keep chains in their car for that last stretch of 80. Traffic out of the Tahoe area was hampered by heavy snow and chain requirements on Monday, and this weekend likely won't be much different as another storm heads into the area. As the Chronicle reports, nearly seven feet of snow fell in parts of Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows between Sunday and Thursday, and everyone with ski rentals heading up tonight and tomorrow will be treated to more fresh powder, with another foot falling at higher elevations between Saturday and Sunday.

After five years of drought and at least three winters with snowfall totals that were pretty dismal for the ski season, everyone should be getting psyched right about now if they haven't made it skiing yet. Many seasonal rentals begin this week, post New Year's, meaning that traffic up 80 should be building starting at about 2 p.m. today, if I had to guess. Not to mention this is the first lull in the snow, and driving conditions should remains steadily OK through tomorrow, though the forecast does call for some isolated snow showers of a couple inches tonight.

Meanwhile, here in the city, feel the sun on your face while you can because the rain picks up again around midnight Friday and into Saturday, with three inches of accumulation predicted throughout the weekend. There are then passing rain showers coming all next week, with a mix of sun and rain every day for the next ten days.

And all that rain here means all that much more snow up north.

Brace for some epic skiing (and/or epic skiing stories, if you do not ski yourself but have the fortune to know some skiers), and be glad that some snow pack is finally building, because even with all that they've gotten, the Sierra snowpack stood at 53 percent of average as of Tuesday.

And beware of avalanches.