Tahoe Weather Blog

I will try and pinpoint the major events of this major storm as they unfold over the next week. The biggest change I am seeing is a slight increase in winds. Let's talk about that: We predict that the lifts will spin tomorrow. Tomorrow night brings in our first wave, but with any luck the winds die down for a very good day on Saturday. They will pick up in the afternoon and may cause lift closures. The heavy winds come in Saturday night but again, should die down by Sunday @ 8:30am. Monday could be the day, but winds will be strong in the morning and throughout the day. I believe they will have at least the slide lift spinning on Monday. There is at least a chance (winds are very difficult to predict) that the lifts will not spin on either Sunday or Monday (small chance). If that is the case, Tuesday will have at least 4-6 feet of fresh POW to burn your legs out quickly. It will take them forever to get the Chutes open as it will be very dangerous in there, especially during th

Yesterday we talked about an abrupt and sudden change to the weather pattern. Today we started to feel the leading edge of what will become a massive storm that will stretch from Japan to the Western Rockies of the USA. Here is a look at the Pacific Ocean forecast for Saturday: This storm is the gift that will keep on giving. It will stall out off the NW USA coast and send multiple waves of moisture south ... toward Tahoe. On Saturday night, through most of the day on Sunday we should see very heavy snow above 7,000 feet (I hope). There is so much moisture associated with this storm, that those snow levels could creep up to 8,000 feet to begin with. Through the morning and day on Sunday, snow levels will come down and I believe the leeward foothills (Arrow Creek, Galena Forest, etc) could see up to 6 inches of snow. Here is the latest forecast for 10:00 Saturday night: Our heaviest snow will come very early Sunday morning. We will receive heavy to moderate snow through Mo

Well, we hope you enjoyed the beautiful February weather! But, as advertised, we are going to start up a new storm cycle. The fun starts Thursday as a couple of weak systems begin to push around our persistent ridge of high pressure. Then late Saturday night a much bigger storm appears poised to blast Tahoe and knock our ridge of high pressure on its butt! Here is a look at late Saturday night: This storm is packing a lot of moisture and should have a significant effect on our weather. Right now the snow levels look reasonable as things will cool down with the first two weak systems. I am guessing starting at 7,500 and rapidly dropping as the cold air comes in with system. This system will stick around through Monday and should be bringing moderate to heavy precip the entire time. Things to continue to stay interesting. Our first signs of a true El Nino pattern, which will undercut the ridge of high pressure and tap into subtropical moisture looks like it will set up next week

Not much has changed since our last post. We have a strong storm moving in from the Pacific that will bring significant precipitation, above 7,500 feet to the Sierra and Carson Range. We are looking at about 18-36 inches by Friday night. Because this storm is moving a bit faster than expected, I think we will see the low end of that range. Precipitation will start this morning and last through tomorrow morning. A series of weak short waves will follow along with some wrap around effect. As we move into the weekend, our ridge of high pressure will build back in and dry things out and warm things up. Here is a look at the precip estimates: We are still expecting a very wet March at this point as well. For more information, see the last post. Stay Tuned ...

Hard to complain about our recent run of weather. Especially after all the snow we have received here in the Carson Range. The dry warm weather will continue through next Tuesday, then things change. Here is a look at the forecast for late Wednesday the 17th: This is a decent sized storm and Tahoe is the Bullseye!. It should hang around for about 48 hours and deliver moderate to heavy snow for our area including the Carson Range (2-4 feet). As we approach next week, I will hopefully be able to pinpoint amounts and elevations. Looking a little further down the road, we are seeing a change coming for our area. It will turn wet again, but the storms will be much warmer and should move further south and impact Southern California as well. It seems that the similarities to 1995 are becoming more apparent. This is a note sent to me by our top researcher. We try to avoid too much technical terminology, but Paul is very good at explaining what he is seeing. What he is seeing is after

Get Ready, here it comes. A strong storm will move out of the Western Pacific Ocean and make landfall. This storm will produce very heavy winds. For more details, see my last post. Snow totals I believe are right inline despite the models moving this storm a bit quicker (18-36 inches for Carson Range, 36-60 inches for crest). The NWS has moved their precip totals up, perhaps they read my last post (just kidding). Look for the event to be very intense from late tomorrow morning through Saturday evening. I do not see the lifts at Mt. Rose being open tomorrow as 100mph winds are expected to accompany this storm. I believe once the leading edge has moved through, that the winds will decrease slightly. Hopefully enough to open the Slide Side on Saturday. Disclaimer, winds can be very tricky to predict especially with a storm that has this much moisture. Moisture can lead to rain friction and decrease winds substantially. Looking ahead, our persistent ridge of high pressure, which never

The strong storm that we have been talking about for the last few weeks is coming and it is going to stay for quite a while, in fact it is going to stay for the weekend. Fortunately, this should be all snow at 8,000 feet and above. This storm is accompanied by a significant cold front that will lower snow levels to 4,500 feet. Inland blocking high pressure is going to slow the progress of this storm significantly. Right now the NWS is looking at about 2 feet at the crest above 8,000 feet. I believe the totals will be much higher. This storm has an excellent moisture tap and should produce heavy snow for an 18 hour window starting early Saturday morning. Here is the forecast for around 2am on Saturday as the storm begins to enter the Carson Range:   I am seeing adequate spillover as this storm starts south, moves north and slams the inland high pressure. This will cause it to do an about face and track south right through our area. I am looking at 18-36 inches of snow for the Car