Donner Pass Conditions

Built here. For here.

A community weather resource from
Donner Pass Insurance Services

Mountain weather · Outdoor observations

Donner Pass — Now

Connecting

Here — DonnerCam Weather Station

Donner Pass 6,180 ft

—

Outdoor air temperature · WN32 sensor

Relative humidityHumidity —
Calculated dew pointDew point —
Absolute station pressureStation pressure —
Waiting for a verified outdoor observation

Alongside — Donner Summit

CSS Lab 6,890 ft

—

Outdoor air temperature · NRCS observation

Checking latest NRCS observation…

CSS Lab SNOTEL #428 · hourly observations

NRCS latestNRCS station ↗

A geographic view

Across Donner Pass

From Soda Springs to Truckee — the mountains, Donner Lake and the I-80 corridor.

USGS terrain · geographic map
West · Soda SpringsEast · Truckee →
Donner Lake, Donner Summit and the real I-80 corridor North-up geographic map using USGS 3DEP terrain relief, National Hydrography Dataset shoreline and National Transportation Dataset I-80 road geometry in a shared Web Mercator projection. CSS Lab SNOTEL #428 is near Soda Springs in the west at 6,890 feet. Donner Lake is the elongated lower basin at approximately 5,937 feet. DonnerCam is a broad approximate area northeast of the lake at 6,180 feet; no private property position is shown. I-80 follows the actual corridor north of Donner Lake toward Truckee. Gray roads indicate live traffic flow data is unavailable. Station names and elevations are shown here for geographic context; live readings and timestamps remain in the dashboard above. TruckeeSoda SpringsDonner PassDonner RidgeSchallenberger RidgeDonner Peak Donner Lake Donner Summit terrain 80 NE lake area N
CSS Lab
6,890 ft
DonnerCam area
6,180 ft
← Westbound toward SacramentoEastbound toward Reno →
Donner Summit / Soda SpringsHigher western terrain · CSS Lab 6,890 ft
Donner Lake areaLower basin · ~5,937 ft surface elevation
Truckee & DonnerCam areaLocal station 6,180 ft · approximate NE area

North-up geographic map, with actual USGS 3DEP terrain relief ↗, NHD Donner Lake shoreline ↗, NTD / Census TIGER-Line I-80 geometry ↗ and GNIS place and ridge locations ↗ (USGS public-domain data). Terrain is a geographic reference, not a live surface condition or temperature heatmap. DonnerCam is a broad approximate NE lake area; no private property position is shown. Only the two station temperatures are measured observations, and their timestamps differ.

Before you head over the pass

Roads & weather alerts

Open Caltrans QuickMap ↗

Check official closures, incidents and chain controls before travel. A road link does not imply the road is open.

Plan your mountain crossing

I-80 · Donner Summit to Truckee

VIEW LIVE I-80 CONDITIONS ↗
Traffic congestionFlow data unavailable
Road closuresCheck Caltrans ↗
Chain restrictionsCheck chain controls ↗
Weather & alertsSee NWS outlook ↓
Green · normal flowYellow · moderate slowdownRed · heavy congestionBlack · verified closureGray · data unavailable

This view has no verified live traffic observations. Both directions remain gray. Use official Caltrans QuickMap for current traffic, closures, chain controls and CHP incidents, including the source times shown there. No chain restrictions does not mean uncongested; slow traffic does not mean a closure.

NWS Summit Forecast
— · Checking forecast… National Weather Service forecast for the Donner Summit point.
Storm Pulse
Checking summit alerts Watching current National Weather Service alerts for Donner Summit.
Official alerts
plus observed conditions
Storm Pulse uses first-party and permitted public observations only. Community weather stations stay reference-only unless a permitted data feed is available.

Measured on the mountain

Summit snow & observations

Central Sierra Snow Lab ↗
Snow depth—
Snow water—
Water-year precip—

Checking latest NRCS snow observation…

NRCS hourly observations are provisional and subject to revision. Snow depth is measured snow on the ground, not new snowfall.

Mountains around us

Tahoe-area resort conditions

Official resort reports

A window onto Donner Pass

DonnerCam video

Live outdoor weather is here. The camera view is coming soon.

Camera installation coming soon

Sources & regional context

Weather resources & sources

Background on our stations, plus useful links around the basin.

Regional weather & water resources
Truckee-Tahoe Airport · KTRKChecking NWS observation…Official NWS report ↗
Lake wind advisory
TahoeLake Tahoe wind forecast and observed TERC map
Truckee BasinDonner Lake • Boca • Stampede • Prosser
Truckee BasinNWS forecast
Donner Lake — Checking NWS hourly wind… NWS point forecast →
Truckee BasinNWS forecast
Boca Reservoir — Checking NWS hourly wind… NWS point forecast →
Truckee BasinNWS forecast
Stampede Reservoir — Checking NWS hourly wind… NWS point forecast →
Truckee BasinNWS forecast
Prosser Creek Reservoir — Checking NWS hourly wind… NWS point forecast →
RiversTruckee River and Donner Creek • USGS observed flow
TruckeeUSGS observed
Truckee River near Truckee — Checking USGS current flow… USGS gauge →
Tahoe CityUSGS observed
Truckee River at Tahoe City — Checking USGS current flow… USGS gauge →
Donner CreekUSGS gauge
Donner Creek at Hwy 89 — Checking USGS current flow… USGS gauge →
AirNow fire & smoke map ↗

EPA air quality and regional smoke conditions. Use the map if the widget is unavailable.

Truckee air-quality widget

Wind values are NWS hourly forecasts, not on-water observations. USGS flow data are provisional and subject to revision. Always check active advisories before boating or paddling.

About Our Weather Data
  • DonnerCam · 6,180 ft: The outdoor WN32 sensor supplies temperature and relative humidity through the Ecowitt GW3000 / Cloud API. Dew point is calculated from those outdoor readings. Ecowitt station dashboard ↗
  • Donner Summit · 6,890 ft: NRCS CSS Lab SNOTEL #428 near Soda Springs supplies independently timestamped hourly temperature and snow observations. NRCS data are provisional and subject to revision. NRCS station & reports ↗
  • Pressure: DonnerCam displays the gateway’s absolute station pressure in inHg at our elevation. It is not corrected to sea level and should not be compared directly with sea-level pressure or airport altimeter settings.
  • Observation times: Times are shown in Pacific time and identify the measurement, not the page refresh. DonnerCam readings older than 10 minutes are stale; the summit comparison pauses when its hourly observation is more than two hours old. KTRK is secondary regional context, with its own NWS timestamp and stale-report status.
Built here. For here.

A community weather resource from Donner Pass Insurance Services.

Scroll to Top