TRUCKEE, Calif. — Excitement is brewing in Truckee after business owners and visitors woke up Thursday to snow on the mountains – and more is incoming.
“(A) frosty beginning, change of season. (I) love it. Sunshine, clouds coming in, expecting up to 6” of snow. It’s beautiful,” said Truckee resident Mike Harrity.
People in Truckee embrace this time of year as they wait for visitors to pack businesses.
Phillip Miller is the general manager at Moody's Bistro Bar and Beats attached to the Truckee Hotel in downtown.
"As you look out on the horizon up in the mountains, you start seeing them start to get covered in snow which is nice because that builds the excitement among skiers and people that travel up here for the winter and that definitely helps business out,” said Miller.
He says Thanksgiving weekend is when business really picks up and by mid-December the hotel and restaurants will be fully booked.
"That really depends on us getting snow and having snow so that people can go out and recreate whether it’s skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, sledding. Whatever it is that families like to do, the snow really helps to draw people to a place like Truckee,” said Miller.
About 10 miles down the road, Boreal Mountain Resort has its lifts ready to go.
"We got the snow cats gassed up and ready to go. And with that, we have been doing our preparations on our snow system. We got a lot of cold temps in addition to these storms and we're going to blow snow around the clock until we're able to open the doors,” said Tucker Norred, the marketing director at Boreal Mountain Resort.
Their scheduled opening day is November 22 but they push to be one of the first resorts open in California.
"We're going to see at least 500 people for opening day. We've seen days where there is even more than that and we're just excited to welcome back the faces that we saw last year as well as teach some people to ski and snowboard,” said Norred.
WATCH THE EXTENDED FORECAST: New timing for rain and snow storms
