Tahoe Weather Blog

After several years of mostly below average precipitation and above average temperatures, Ma Nature is doing her very typical catch up act. Averages exist for a reason and really have not changed since we started keeping records. So we were due for above average precip and below average temps. Ma Nature has us covered. Some of the snow pictures are truly unbelievable. For those of you who did not notice, our friend Sven over at Unofficial Rose  is back. Sven is a backcountry expert and I would strongly suggest following his posts and subscribing ... it could save your life. Ok, back to current weather. After a few days where our temperatures finally got to average, another cold front moved in last night and is reenforcing as we speak. We have several storms in the next 10 days, but these storms are nothing like what we have been seeing. Here is what we are seeing: Tuesday 3/21 This is a fast moving storm that will bring rain to the valleys and snow above 6,500 feet. We do not see any h

A very powerful jet stream is pulling tropical moisture from the South Pacific and sending it up into a trough of low pressure and dumping it all over California and the Lake Tahoe area. We will continue to see heavy rain for the valleys and heavy snow for the mountains in the 6,500 to 8,000 foot elevation. Snow levels will continue to fluctuate through the weekend as we will receive several waves of additional precipitation. Snow levels during these warmer events will fluctuate and are very difficult to predict. Mt. Rose will receive all snow and should pick up an addition 1-3 feet over the weekend to go with the 2 feet they have already received. This powerful jet, which goes right through the Tahoe area will continue bring strong winds.  But that is not all. Another large, warm and moist storm is on tap for Tuesday: This storm will again start with very high snow levels, in the 8,000 foot range. As the storm moves through snow levels will drop. Starting Wednesday (3/15) we will begi

We are anticipating a significant pattern change starting around Friday, March 10th. We will transition from a cold, stormy pattern to a very warm, stormy pattern. The winter of 22/23 continues.  The storm train starting on Friday is born in the south and will knock this Arctic air out of our area and pack significant tropical moisture. Snow levels will start very high with several of these storms. Currently, we have a snowpack as low as the foothills and a very significant snowpack in the mountains. This winter has been much colder than average so our typical snow melt has simply not occurred. Which is a good thing. Unless of course we start to experience heavy rain at high elevations. This series of storms could bring some flooding concerns. Here is a look at the forecasted storms along with dates and times: Friday March 10th, 12:00am Monday March 13th, 2:00am - Same storm, tail end will bring some cooler air Wednesday March 15th - Beginning of another warm storm Saturday March 18th

The models are changing their minds about as often as the average person changes their underwear. One thing they have consolidated on is the storm this weekend and the aftereffects for next week. Here is a look at the forecast for tomorrow evening: Another cold storm and should be all snow for all Tahoe resorts. 1-3 feet depending on the amount of shadowing. This storm will stick around through the middle of next week with weak waves of hit and miss precipitation. After that, it looks like high pressure will settle in. The big southern storm we talked about looks like it is going to get split with one half moving north of us the other half moving south. However, the models appear to change their minds on this daily. For now, however, it looks like we will have a pretty clear sailing, next weekend. Stay Tuned ...

I feel like this is a retraction. In our last post we talked about and showed a forecast from both the GFS and EC weather models that showed the possibility that spring may actually arrive in the form of a big warmup. Those models and all others have done a complete about face. Instead we are looking at more storms that could last into the foreseeable future. Let's start with next weekend's storm. Right now a weak area of low pressure is going to camp right off the west coast and bring multiple waves of precipitation to the area: This storm will begin to impact Tahoe on Saturday (3/4) and will stick around until it joins forces with a storm from the south on the following Thursday (3/9). An already saturated Southern California is about to get hit with another large storm. This will bring large amounts of moisture to the entire state of California. Then, right on its heels things get really interesting. We have 3 areas of low pressure that should connect and form an AR event on

The current storm cycle will continue on and off  (mostly on), through next Saturday (3/4), then it appears our pattern will change to dry and possibly warm. Both our favorite models are predicting a huge warm up starting around the 8th of March. We could actually go from lows in the single digits to highs in the 70's. First, we have a series of storms that are going to continue for the next week. Here is a look at what we are seeing: Sunday 2/26 @ 4:00pm Monday 2/27 @ 4:00 pm Wednesday 3/1 @ 4am Saturday 3/4 @6:00pm So the pattern stays active until the 5th of March as the storms slowly move away and high pressure begins to take over. Take a look at the forecast for the 9th of March: That is some very warm air all the way up into BC. That trough of Low Pressure is going to bring up some sub-tropical air. Of course with the huge snowpack, that could cause a very quick melt off, so we will have to keep an eye on that. Here is the forecasted precip totals for the next week: Looks lik

Yesterday's cold front was just the beginning of a series of storms poised to hit the Tahoe Area for around the next week. We are seeing a rather significant Rain Shadow associated with these storms. Put another way, the Western Sierra will receive much more snow than the Eastern Sierra around Tahoe. The Central Sierra will be picking up a ton of moisture which will be all snow. For Tahoe, the best chance for significant snows come early Friday (2/24) and the following Monday (2/27). Again we are seeing a Sierra Shadowing effect for the eastern Sierra. Here is a look at late Monday: We expect snow on and off through Wednesday (3/1). Here is a look at the precip forecast. Notice the difference between the Western and Eastern Sierra around Lake Tahoe: By the time this storm cycle ends, this will still be a significant precip event, just more so for the Central Sierra. Obviously, this brings very beneficial rains for most of California as their reservoirs continue to fill up.  This wi