While it’s probably safe to say that on one hand most skiers, boarders and sledders will be giving thanks for everything in their lives come Thursday. On the other hand they probably would have been more than a little thankful for a major blizzard right before the long weekend.Thanks – or not – to that storm-busting buzz kill of high pressure sitting over the North Coast, the Sierra Nevada is experiencing downright balmy conditions. Fine if you’re a cyclist, Fuhgetabout if you’re a skier.Ah, dontcha love California’s fickle weather?

Well, no, as far as some folks here in the Sierra Sun’s newsroom are concerned. Especially the ones who eagerly bought their passes this summer bolstered by visions of the last couple of winters. I say this dry weather is nothing unusual. They beg to differ. So over plates of chow mein at Wong’s, a friendly wager was offered.Two of us argued that snow by Thanksgiving – and we mean “real” snow – is something of a rarity. Two others countered that Tahoe-area resorts are open, more often than not, by Turkey Day.

And the smart one abstained (although she thinks snow by Thanksgiving is something of a given.)Of course there is a difference between a resort being “open” and a deep snowpack. But of course we can’t agree on the wording of the original wager, so we try to obfuscate the weaknesses in our hard-headed arguments.Still, after talking to weather experts (And no, resort PR hacks don’t count. They are, after all, trying to sell their snow-covered mountains even when there’s no snow in the forecast); surfing the Internet; and the fact that nobody will concede they are wrong, we turn our question over to none other than the experts of all things snow – the residents of Truckee. So what it is it, dear readers? Is snow by Thanksgiving the norm or not? Send your take to us at jbate@sierrasun.com so that I can collect my five bucks.

Jamie Bate is the editor of the Sierra Sun. Reach him at jbate@sierrasun.com.