Truckee locals hope for enough snow to keep traffic moving and business booming
TRUCKEE - It was a quiet Sunday evening in downtown Truckee with just a little bit of ice on the ground, which made for an easy drive up to the mountains.
There were wet roads, but no snowfall in sight on I-80 East Sunday afternoon, that all quickly changed when the sun went down.
"It has been easy, maybe too easy because last year was not," said a sales associate at La Galleria in Truckee, Kristin Ambrose.
Ambrose has had no problem this winter on her daily walk to work in downtown Truckee.
"May not be great for the ski slopes, but it's just fine for us," Ambrose said.
Peter and Nancy Holzapfel were visiting Truckee for the weekend, trading the Florida sunshine for the Truckee slopes.
"We've been here before," said Peter Holzapfel who was visiting Truckee with his wife. "We know it's kind of hit and miss."
They said conditions on the mountain were more ideal on Saturday for cross-country skiing.
"Today the conditions were kind of sticky because it was raining out there a little bit," said Holzapfel.
Locals like Hale Carr, who has lived in Truckee for 22 years, said she cannot complain about some clearer skies this season, especially after last year's record-breaking snowfall.
"There's been less snow for sure, but last year was 700 inches so you can't compare it to last year," Carr said. "We're used to all kinds of weather."
Chain controls and closures often come with heavy snow.
"When it snows and I-80 is closed, it's a little bit of a ghost town because we are such a tourist destination," said Ambrose. "You have to have that interstate open."
Ambrose said when the snow falls down, the people want to come up.
"There's still a lot of time," said Carr. "It's just January."
Locals hope the rain turns to just the right amount of snowfall to keep traffic smooth sailing and business booming.
"I think what we want is a normal winter, whatever normal is," said Ambrose. "We don't want to be extreme."
Truckee is expected to see about one to three inches of snow from Sunday into Monday, but the heaviest amount of snow will be over the passes.
Rain will continue to be heavy overnight, and you can expect a wet commute Monday morning.