kevin cooper cooper showing the snowy conditions over the past 24 hours.ys the snow is much-needed in the region considering the underwhelming statewide snowpack to begin the year at 25% of average to date, a stark difference from the numbers at the beginning of 2023. >> snowpack last year, you are talking 24 feet of snow at the upper crust depending on where you were in and around the basin. this year, we've seen inches, just about 24 inches of snow season to date. >> reporter: at the sports basement in walnut creek, customers are making last- minute rentals before driving into the sierra this evening prior to the storm. the snowstorm isn't changing the plans for this group of friends but they are preparing for snowy conditions they will encounter through the weekend. >> friends got the gear and stuff to maintain our safety and we have chains and stuff for the snow. >> reporter: in contra costa county, nbc bay area news. >> snow, rain, chilly temperatures. and, you can stay on top of all of it on our nbc bay area app that will let you track just how cold

we are talking about kevin coop cooper. there he is in his bright red jacket. he's the director of communications and pr for california mountain resort company. they own several sierra resorts. coop always a pleasure to. >> yeah, good to see you guys. so thanks for having me on. right before this storm, the calm. >> oh, boy. wow, he is so animated. as always. all right, coop, it's been a very quiet winter in the sierra. not a lot of snow. i had a friend who was lamenting about how her ski resort weekend was going to be over, but there must be a lot of excitement now about what's coming. >> absolutely. you know, mother nature just sometimes just takes a little bit of time, you know, to kind of get it all together. taylor two winters last year, we had all the snow starting early november and then going all the way through june. two years ago, we had all of our snow in december this year, it looks like we're really starting to get into a groove as we move into january 2024. looks to sit up really good. we're looking at the gfs and the euro models and they're all s

kevin cooper cooper showing the snowy conditions over the past 24 hours. he says the snow is much-needed in the region considering the underwhelming statewide snowpack to begin the year at 25% of average to date, a stark difference from the numbers at the beginning of 2023. >> snowpack last year, you are talking 24 feet of snow at the upper crust depending on where you were in and around the basin. this year, we've seen inches, just about 24 inches of snow season to date. >> reporter: at the sports basement in walnut creek, customers are making last- minute rentals before driving into the sierra this evening prior to the storm. the snowstorm isn't changing the plans for this group of friends but they are preparing for snowy conditions they will encounter through the weekend. >> friends got the gear and stuff to maintain our safety and we have chains and stuff for the snow. >> reporter: in contra costa county, nbc bay area news. >> snow, rain, chilly temperatures. and, you can stay on top of all of it on our nbc bay area app that will let you track just how

cooper. >> cooper is the same. finally we're not even talking a lot of snow, right? >> we're talking, you know, 18 to 24in. but it does raise what i like to call the stoke level up pretty darn good. >> saturday will bring the snow. sunday will bring the cold with low temps in the single digits. two things that residents haven't seen a lot this season. the first sierra snow pack survey of the year only showed a few inches quite a bit of difference compared to this time in 2023. >> it's a tale of two winters, right? last year we were talking about 32ft of snow, right now we just finished up a huge set of systems that came through are events that just left us with six, eight, ten feet of snow. this is like 91 slow start and we've just got to work with it. something ski resorts across tahoe have been doing to the best of their abilities. >> heavenly and northstar have 70 and 65% of their terrain closed. kirkwood doesn't have the backside lift operational, just about 55% total open. kirkwood vice president general manag

cooper.ooper is the same final. we. >> we're not even talking a lot of snow, right? we're talking, you know, 18 to 24in. but it does raise what i like to call the stoke level up pretty darn good. >> saturday will bring the snow. sunday will bring the cold with low temps in the single digits. two things that residents haven't seen a lot this season. the first sierra snowpack survey of the year only showed a few inches quite a bit of difference compared to this time in 2023. it's a tale of two winters, right? >> last year we were talking about 32ft of snow. right now we just finished up a huge set of systems that came through. are events that just left us with six, eight, ten feet of snow. this is like 91 slow start and we've just got to work with it. something ski resorts across tahoe have been doing to the best of their abilities. >> heavenly northstar have 70 and 65% of their terrain closed. kirkwood doesn't have the backside lift operational, just about 55% total open. kirkwood vice preside