Tahoe Weather Blog

We have 3 storms sitting out in the Pacific Ocean ready to make landfall and bring rain and snow to the area. These are warmer storms, but will turn progressively cooler. Then around the 28th, a strong area of Low Pressure sitting off the BC Coast, combined with a ridge of high pressure well off the California coast, will create an alley for much cooler storms at the beginning of March. Typical of El Nino, we have many weaker storms. These storms are, however, beginning to add up as we are now at about our average precipitation after a very slow start. There is no end in sight for the storm train. Here is what we are seeing and when. Notice the red, blue and light blue lines. That represents temperatures with the light blue being much cooler and red being much warmer. Today @ 10pm (2/17) Tomorrow @ 9pm (2/18) Monday @ 6am (2/19) The storm starting Sunday will stall and dump tons of rain over most of California. This storm should put us above our seasonal average. After about 4-5 day br...

The last weather pattern was an overachiever. The first of the season! Mt. Rose even managed to open the world famous Chutes. For those of us fortunate to be there on Thursday, they were spectacular.  We are in for some stable weather through Thursday with gradually increasing temperatures that should hover around average for this time of year. Then, a major pattern change comes to Tahoe and all of California. This pattern has some potential for some very serious snowfall in the Sierra and even the potential for heavy rain in the leeward valleys of Reno and Carson City. Here is what we are seeing now: Friday night (2/16) Saturday night (2/17) Monday Afternoon (2/19) - Notice the moisture tail and warm/cold air convergence Tuesday night (2/20) You get the idea. We have a very active pattern that comes inland sometime Friday and could last for a week or more. A few qualifiers here. The GFS model is very bullish on this event. The EC believes there could be a rain shadow effect for th...

Warm moist air is going to collide with very cold air from the north and create what should be a pretty decent storm. Remember, this last storm they were predicting up to 3 feet. We ended up with 6 inches in the Carson Range. This storm has some potential to carry over the Sierra into the leeward valleys of Nevada. Here is the latest forecast for Sunday Morning. This storm has a ton of moisture to work with. Snow levels are going to be tricky however. Very cold Northern air and very warm and moist Southern air. Our best guess is for snow levels to start around 8,000 feet on early Sunday morning. That will drop to lake level throughout the day. For the northern Sierra and Carson Ranges, the most reliable weather model has this storm cleared out by Monday morning. Mt. Rose should pick up 2-3 feet of snow. As we get on the backside of this storm, snow levels will drop to the valley floors so Monday morning traffic could be a nightmare. That is our best guess, but when you have two converg...

 I hope you are enjoying the warm weather because it is not going to be around for long. We have a series of storms that are poised to hit the Tahoe area and bring all snow to Mt. Rose and mostly snow to the rest of the Tahoe Ski Resorts. The first storm hits tomorrow and will last through Thursday. Behind that storm is some very cold air. Our high temperatures will by 30 degrees cooler than today. Here is the forecast for early Thursday (2/1) morning: We were expecting that very cold air to make it down, but another storm, which will move in from the South will change that. Here is the forecast for Sunday morning: This truly is a collision of warm and cold air with plenty of moisture to work with. This storm will be around for about 24 hours. Behind it is more cool air that will stick around until the following weekend (2/10). After that we are looking for a warm up as high pressure moves in. Here is the precip forecast for the next 7-10 days: Typical El Nino, weaker and warmer st...

We are now in a more typical El Nino pattern. As small waves of precip will continue through most of this week. We are looking for storms to continue to move further south, be strong enough to pull up sub-tropical moisture and cool enough to produce snow. Unfortunately, that is a rare combination with El Nino winters. Mostly, we can expect warmer temperatures as the storms approach. But, 2 out of 3 aint bad, right? Looking ahead we are seeing the possibility of a decent sized storm to develop toward the end of this month or the beginning of next month. Here is the forecast for the 31st of January. Remarkably, the long term models seem to mostly be in agreement about this event. Generally, that is a fairly reliable predictor. The above is the European model, here is the Canadian: Eerily similar. Both these models have this coming in as a very warm and slow moving storm. I believe we will have all snow up at Mt. Rose and snow levels will mostly hover around 7,000 for the majority of this...

Another fast moving, reasonably warm storm is knocking on the door. This storm will move through the area very rapidly and probably leave around 2-4 inches of very wet snow in the Carson Range and Mt. Rose in particular. Here is for forecast for tonight (1/16) around 11:00: This storm will be out of the area by early tomorrow morning but should leave some snow down to about 5,000 feet on the backside. Because the leeward valleys currently are experiencing a very deep inversion, there is a possibility of some freezing rain, which is a very rare occurrence in these parts. Take a look at this setup for the coming series of storms starting very late on Friday (1/19): This is a typical El Nino setup, with several smaller storms that will move inland one after the other. The big stuff is forecast to come in starting Sunday (1/21) afternoon and will hit the entire state of California. So we are looking for snow, on and off, starting Friday and lasting through the following Tuesday. The one do...

Our next storm will come in much warmer than this past storm. It could even help DMV get the roads somewhat passible in the valleys. This storm will tap into tropical moisture, but the snow to water ratios will be much lower. Put another way, we will get more moisture but either the same or less snow in the mountains. Here is the forecast for 4:00pm on Saturday (1/13): As this storm begins to hit our area, we could see some valley snow due to the Ice Box Effect. Currently, the snow cover and surrounding mountains are holding the cold air in the valley. However, as the storm begins to come through, the warmer air will mix and we believe it will bring rain and a very soupy mess. As far as the Carson Range, we are looking for 1-2 feet of snow. Again, this is a fast moving storm and will be clear of our area by early Sunday morning. Much needed relief will follow next week as we will see valley high temps well into the 50's. El Nino will continue, however, next weekend with what is sha...