We don't think even the biggest fool could have predicted last year's winter in Tahoe, but we all sure tried. Everyone has their own prediction method, I check over 3 different weather websites and take the medium of their predictions and pass it off as my own. Some other people have a little less conventional way of getting their weather reports. Most people are familiar with the meteorologist tools such as thermometers, barometers, and weather balloons, here in Tahoe to predict the snow we work with what we have! There is onthesnow.com, NOAA, Accuweather, and The Farmer's Almanac, but all of those are for beginners. The real snow chasers tend to turn to more questionable methods, they might not work, but who am I to tell them that? Tahoe isn't known for its cow population, but in some mountain communities, the behavior of cows and other animals has helped people get a leg up on all types of weather for centuries now. Here are some animal predictions tips: If birds are flying high in the sky, fair weather will stay around. If cattle seek a corner of the field or lie down in a group a severe storm is coming. Cats will clean their ears before a rainstorm. When dogs eat grass, rain is coming (or in my dog's case throw up on my carpet is coming). The Wooly worm is another animal tied to winter weather predicting, the blacker the worm, the harsher the winter, and the browner the worm, the milder the winter. This methodology has some backing from the Old Farmer's Almanac and an entire party in North Carolina that celebrates the coming of the snow season with its own Wooly Worm Festival. Another old wives' tale is looking at the seeds of a persimmon, apparently, you can tell what kind of winter you'll be having. When you split the seed open you'll find one of three shapes, a spoon, a knife, and a fork. A spoon means heavy wet snow, a knife means cold, cutting winds, and a fork means a wild tolerable winter.
Although there is no science to back this up, let's all, hope everyone in Tahoe is finding spoon shapes in their persimmon (after we double-check they weren't shipped in from Florida). So, don't worry if your weather balloon is broken, we have other ways to figure out this winter weather, but we all still need to continue to do our snow dances at home before bed because let's face it we will do anything for another powder filled winter here in Tahoe. Don't worry about booking in the snow either, because we have you covered with our travel insurance which has a 100% snow guarantee!