Tahoe Weather Blog

A series of storms will move into California. Beneficial rains will make it further south. This time, the Central Sierra appears to be in the Bullseye. That is until Monday. Before we get into that, these storms are moving out of the north. For the most part they will stay on the other side of the Sierra as they move south through California. However, we will pick up some precipitation. Between now and Monday I expect about 12-18 inches for the Carson, double that for the west side of the lake and more the further west you go. Back to Monday; This storm will also fall out of the north. It has a much better trajectory and I see it being a decent event for the Carson range and all of the Tahoe Basin: The above picture is the forecast for very early on Monday morning. this should stick with us for a good 12-18 hours or so and bring about an inch and a half of liquid to the Carson range and perhaps triple that for the Western Crest. Here is the precip outlook for the entire ev

We do not like to look back at the weather, but these last two storms proved to be somewhat confounding. They just could not get over the Sierra. That meant enormous rainfall totals for Central and Northern California and about half of what we were expecting in the Carson Range. After my wife told me how wrong our forecast was, I simply replied to her that God always has the last say. It's His machine and only He knows how it works. I think tonight's storm should be the best of the three. This is another massive storm that should better handle the rain shadow created by the Sierra Crest. Here is a look at the forecast for tonight: This storm will be all snow for the Carson range and should produce snow all the way down to the valley floor. There could be a decent window tomorrow morning for the winds to die slightly and allow the lifts at Rose to spin. I think we will get from 1-2 feet of additional snow up on Rose so it will be quite a morning if the winds allow. The

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