Record Mid-Month Heat Wave Forces Sierra at Tahoe and Homewood to Pull the Plug — and They Are Not Alone

St Patrick's Day arrived in the Sierra Nevada this year not with a late-season powder dump but with temperatures in the low seventies and a snowpack so depleted that the only sensible response for two of Lake Tahoe's most beloved ski areas was to close the gates and call it a season. Sierra at Tahoe and Homewood Mountain Resort both ended their 2025-26 campaigns this week — weeks ahead of schedule — as an unprecedented mid-March heat wave dismantled what remained of the mountain snow in a matter of days and left resort operators with no viable path forward.

Sierra at Tahoe announced that its 79th season would conclude on Sunday 22 March, with resort officials noting that near-record temperatures have accelerated snowmelt across the mountain. "The sun has been a little too enthusiastic this spring, and with near-record high temps and no new snow in the forecast, it's time to call it," the resort said in its advisory. Homewood did not even make it to the weekend. The Lake Tahoe resort brought forward its closing day to 17 March — Monday — after forecast highs in the 70s extending through the weekend left management with no reasonable alternative.

Homewood's statement read "Mother Nature always gets the final word in the mountains, and this season she’s calling it a little early. Despite our best efforts, today March 17 will be the last day of the 2025-2026 winter season. With today's high temperatures and the forecast showing highs in the 70s starting tomorrow and through the weekend, our snowpack is rapidly dwindling. The safety of our guests and employees is always our top priority, and the safest option is to close today.

"We’re proud of our team for creating a great experience during a challenging winter and we’re grateful to everyone who joined us this season."

The closures are painful, but they have been a long time coming — the final chapter in a season defined from the outset by disruption and disappointment. A massive storm in early February briefly gave hope and temporarily transformed the Sierra, producing some of the season's best skiing conditions, but rain followed quickly, erasing those gains almost as fast as they arrived. For those weeks in February, the mountain looked like it might yet salvage something. It could not.

Homewood's difficulties ran deeper than the current heatwave. A dry December forced the resort to delay its opening to New Year's Eve weekend, cutting nearly a full month from its operational calendar. And the 1,200-acre ski area had sat completely dormant during the entire 2024-25 season while awaiting approval for its updated redevelopment plan — raising genuine concerns among locals about the mountain's future as a public-access resort. This winter was supposed to represent a fresh start. Instead, it has delivered one of the shortest effective seasons in the resort's history.

A planned new gondola, central to Homewood's long-anticipated redevelopment, remains unfinished and is not expected to be completed until later this year. The resort that locals hoped would emerge transformed is instead emerging early, bruised, and with much of its construction still outstanding.

The conditions that drove both resorts off the mountain are not simply a matter of a warm week. They reflect a structural deficit in the Sierra snowpack that has been building all season. California's snowpack sits at 48 percent of normal statewide — with conditions significantly worse in the northern Sierra, where levels have dropped to just 28 percent of the historical average. The Sierra Nevada snowpack is at its leanest since 2015, according to California Department of Water Resources data.

At Homewood specifically, the figures are bleak even by the standards of a weak season. The mountain's summit holds just 17 inches of base depth — 33 percent of the average for this time of year — after just 245 inches of total snowfall this season. With temperatures headed for the 70s, that base was not going to sustain safe or enjoyable skiing for another day, let alone another week.

The National Weather Service warned that the warm spell could shatter temperature records across the Bay Area, Central Coast, and Sierra Nevada, accelerating snowmelt and pushing snow lines higher up mountain slopes. On the evidence of this week, that warning was not an overstatement.

Neither resort is an isolated case. Dodge Ridge Mountain Resort suspended operations on Sunday 15 March, citing unseasonably warm conditions — making it the first Californian resort to yield to the heatwave. Mt. Shasta Ski Park, California's northernmost ski area, ended its season after just 55 operating days — five short of its 60-day season guarantee to passholders. The closures are spreading southward through the state with the efficiency and inevitability of the heat itself.

Sierra at Tahoe confirmed it hopes to operate the Grandview Express, Nob Hill, and Easy Rider Express through closing day, but stated that this footprint is subject to change with conditions throughout the warm period, and that no beginner terrain will be available. Even the final weekend, in other words, carries no guarantees — a reflection of how little margin is left on a mountain that has been racing against the thermometer for weeks.

"The sun has been a little too enthusiastic this spring, and with near-record high temps + no new snow in the forecast, it’s time to call it. Our last day of operations will be this Sunday, March 22.

"We plan to operate Grandview Express, Nob Hill + Easy Rider Express, conditions permitting, with beginner terrain limited to Easy Rider. This footprint may change based on conditions–please check the daily snow report (link in bio) for updates on lifts + terrain.

"We hope to see you this Saturday + Sunday to send off our 79th season in style, with snow beach volleyball + DJ aprés each day. Thank you to our Sierra Fam for another great season together"

For all the grim arithmetic, both resorts have sought to end on something other than a note of defeat. Sierra at Tahoe has promised a proper farewell, throwing a send-off on Saturday and Sunday with snow beach volleyball and DJ après to close things out with some energy. Season passes for 2026-27 are already on sale at both resorts, a gesture of forward momentum from management teams that have spent the past weeks presiding over a season they cannot wait to put behind them.

The season pass offer carries its own quiet message: come back next year, because this year was not the Sierra's fault, and the Sierra will be here when the snow returns. It is the mountain resort's version of optimism — a belief, rooted in decades of experience, that the weather is cyclical and that a bad season is eventually followed by a good one.

That belief will be tested if the broader climate trajectory holds. Back-to-back difficult seasons, a snowpack at its leanest since 2015, and a March that felt more like May are not an accident. They are a pattern. And for the ski areas of the California Sierra, addressing that pattern — through investment, adaptation, and honest conversation with their guests — is the work that will define the decade ahead far more than any single winter's snowfall.

For now, though, the lifts are still. The sun has won. March in Tahoe has called it early, and the mountains will need to wait for winter to come back.