. >> according to tahoe travel expert kevin coop cooper. if you haven't left already, but have that winter kit with you, chains tensioners, flares, water and head up with a full tank of gas or charge. >> we haven't seen this much snow all season long, so be prepared if you do that, he says, you're likely in for a treat. >> up until now, most resorts relying on their snow machines to do the work. >> this is huge. so now they're going to be able to open up more terrain. >> back at the ski shop, it's music to the ears of marc and elliot, very excited. >> i'm just picking up new skis too, and i'm looking at them over there. >> yeah, it should be some great snow after the storm passes. as a reminder, if you are heading up caltrans advising drivers to check their social media before you go for the latest potential closures and traffic conditions in berkeley, zac sos, ktvu fox two news. >> you can stay up to date with this weekend's storm by downloading our ktvu weather app. it has an hourly forecast and live interactive radar. >> new at 11, the o

area means snow in the sierra, and the thought on the mind of every tahoe resident, including kevin coop cooper, is the same. finally 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 a 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 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 presiden

earlier today on the four, we talked with our tahoe expert kevin coop cooper about what they're hoping for. looking ahead to the next couple of weeks. >> but really, the challenge is these storms have been coming through and they're hitting the crest and they just don't have enough lift to get into the sierra so that western slope is seeing inches of snow. we've seen multiple feet over the last few weeks down on that, that western slope. but in tahoe only the upper elevations. so i hope with that crystal ball that we're going to see a really good active february and march. >> okay, so coop says that there is plenty of terrain already open and that the resorts are working to keep as many of those trails groomed for skiers and boarders as they can. all right. demolition day coming up. we'll show you the work being done on that large commercial building in the south bay that was destroyed in a christmas day fire. i'm sure you remember that big fire. also ahead, the james beard foundation releasing its list of semifinalists for its prestigious awards and bay area chefs and restaurants are

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

joining us now live to talk about all things tahoe is our tahoe expert, kevin coop cooper. a pleasure to see you. so i want to talk a little bit about something a bit serious here. a high avalanche warning is in effect for the greater lake tahoe area and the eastern sierra into reno. can you explain a little bit about the conditions that have prompted this warning? >> absolutely. yeah, that's a great question. so what's happened is we're we're getting good snow. right. but we have a we have a bad layer down below. so if you go to the sierra avalanche center, you can take a look at the latest forecast. and basically if you think about how snow falls, think of a layer cake, right? each and every layer of the snow that's come through. now tilt it up and put it up on angle. so we have a bad layer kind of in the middle right there with this heavy wet snow on top. it has raised up the avalanche concern and the sierra avalanche center by far is the expert in the sierra and the eastern sierra avalanche center. as well. so if you're going to go into the back country, you definitely

of the snow, though, is welcome side for skiers and snowboarders and for people such as kevin cooper. you know, coop, whose business relies on snow for winter sports. >> we're blessed by mother nature's natural, about 18 to 24in at those upper summit levels, which really did a great job. nothing like last year, but it definitely gave a lot of mother nature snow for the mountain teams to work with. people in the sierra are expecting two more systems to move through the area over the next few days, so let's talk about that and your bay area forecast and bring in rosemary. >> it certainly a great sight to see. finally for the sierra. >> you're right. finally and these next storms will benefit the sierra more than us. but that's okay. yeah it is. yes, we need it in the sierra. and that's what we are likely to get. let's take a look at the numbers outside our doors at this hour. we are in the 40s and low 50s, so a chill in the air already a beautiful view there over san francisco. 53 degrees at this hour. our temperatures range from mid 50s to low 60s today, so not too bad right? about average for most h

we're joined this afternoon by kevin cooper, director of communications and public relations for the california mountain resort company. coop. it is good to check in with you once again. we just had this series of storms come in off the pacific here over the past week or so. i know you mentioned that these systems mainly were bringing snow to the higher elevations. how did the tahoe area do with these storms in terms of snowfall? >> well, i kind of kept with the forecast right there. great question. you know, it's at the upper elevation, 7500ft and above. they've seen 4 to 6in just depending on kind of where you're at in elevation up north above i 80 all the way down to 168 by fresno. so we've seen some good snow skiing and riding goes up on the mountain today. so the skiing and riding is still good. resorts are working the train, trying to keep as much open as humanly possible. right now with this system. so we're looking good this weekend though it could be a challenge. this next system coming in friday and saturday. we'll see chain controls on i-80, highway 50, state route 88, highway four. so the usual suspects. but i'l