Massive Pattern Change Will Bring Heavy Rain to Valleys and Deep Snow to Upper Elevations

Merry Christmas to all! I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season. 

If you caught our last post, we have a huge pattern change and it is knocking on the door. Before we get to the timing and snow levels I thought it prudent to show the precip forecast for the next 10 days:

We are looking at 12-16 inches of liquid for all the mountains around Lake Tahoe. Just South of the lake, they are going to get buried in the upper elevations. Add this to our already healthy snowpack and you see why averages do matter! Meanwhile, many valley locations will see 5+ inches of rain over the next 10 days.

Storm 1 (Tuesday 12/27 @ 4am)

This storm is packing a subtropical moisture tap and will be the warmest of the storms with snow levels starting out at 10,000 and dropping through the event. The event will last 20-24 hours and by the end, it will be all snow down to 7,000 feet. 

Storm 2 (Thursday 12/29 @ 6am)

The next event in the series is actually two storms. This will be another warm event and will last through the following Saturday with a short reprieve during the late afternoon hours on Thursday. Then another wave comes in very early on Friday morning and should last through the following Saturday (12/31). Snow levels on this one are tricky but I believe they will start around 8,000 and probably close to 7,000. They will not vary much, unfortunately, until the end of the event after most of the precipitation has fallen. This is a cross your fingers type of storm, just a slight movement of the cold air could bring snow levels down.

Storm 3 (Monday 1/2/2023@ 10am)

After a much needed 24-36 hour reprieve on New Years day, the Sierra Storm Machine gets cranking again. Notice the storm out in the Pacific on the heels of this storm.

Folks there are several storms but we expect this event to last through Friday (1/6/2023). Snow levels will vary, but this should be slightly cooler with snow levels below 8,000 feet.

Toward midday on the 6th of January, we expect high pressure to move in and clear things out. In all likelihood this should end the event, but not until almost all of Tahoe see's 12 inches of liquid precipitation. 

As is not atypical, the Sierra can spin up some very warm, wet storms. That is what we are looking at for the next few weeks. 

Stay Tuned...