Very Wet Week Ahead

The Tahoe area and Leeward Valleys of Northern Nevada are in for a very rainy couple of weeks, at least. Several factors are involved, including off short troughs in the Pacific NW and inland troughs both southeast and northeast of us. Add a blocking ridge and we are going to see moisture coming from all directions.

Our top researcher, Paul H, had this to say about what to expect long term:

The wet pattern appears to continue till at least May 11 and is now indeed looking to be an interesting end to this interesting Super El Nino. I want to say I see a break in the Sierras from this wet cool weather but I'm not and it must be similar to what the dark ages were like in Europe- the summer solstice with frost and sleat. To be honest I believe the "sleep of the sun" (solar minimum) is playing a role in all this from the severe weird drought to extremely warm oceans to now this bizarre cool wet pattern I'm seeing continue into June. The Law of Thermodynamics and heat distribution mechanisms to find a quasi equilibrium within our atmosphere is all weather really is and the earth is proving to be going through a very strange time balancing herself out. Both our recently altered atmosphere to very high CO2 levels- from burning fossil fuels- and the exceptionally quiet sun phase seems to be having a direct influence on the polar vortices and the North Atlantic Oscillation swinging back and forth from strong positive to strong negative thus impacting the jet stream dynamics and North Pacific High. Moreover the physical response from our ozone layer (stratosphere) receiving low levels of solar radiation and our earths unsettled magnetic field due to large amounts of ice melting off the Arctic and Greenland is influentially affecting these air masses circulating within the westerlies in both hemispheres along with the equatorial Inter tropical convergence zones cloud and thunderstorm development or CPN (cloud producing nuclei or equatorial Rossby waves). Bottom line weird ass weather for the next long while in California!!
Cheers to Cool Wet May

Expect snow levels in the 8,000 - 9,000 foot range. They could dip lower as a cold front approaches from the north on Thursday. As Paul has explained here, expect a very stormy May with 2-3 day breaks between stormy weather.

Normally we begin to shut it down this time of year, but we will keep going for as long as the weather warrants.

Stay Tuned ...