Tahoe Weather Blog

I have been hearing about all the December snow and am continually reminded that the spigot shutoff for a few months after December, last year. That is not happening this year. First, we have a couple of near misses that will produce some precipitation for the Sierra starting Friday and lasting through the weekend. I do not expect any major storm from this system for Tahoe. The same cannot be said for the Pacific NW as they will get a blast from this one.  Then, next Tuesday (12/27) our pattern changes. A very warm storm will pick up a weak sub-tropical moisture tap and bring rain and snow to the Sierra. Folks, this one could rain to very high elevations (9,000 feet) as the air is very warm. You have to go up to BC to find some colder air. Then, late on Wednesday the 28th of December another system drops in from the north. This will still be a very warm system, but nothing like the previous storm and hopefully will bring all snow to Slide Mountain, although very wet, heavy snow. A thir

After nearly 10 feet of snow at Mt. Rose in the last 10 days, things are going to dry out as a ridge of high pressure will set up just off the Pacific NW and block anything trying to get into us. There is a slight chance of a storm making it through around the 22nd or 23rd, however right now that storm looks to be heading north of Tahoe. Here is the precip forecast for the next 15 days: This may not be a bad thing for the resorts. If anybody remembers what Mt. Rose Highway looked like last Christmas with many of our western neighbors deciding they could drive that road in a blizzard and DOT having to shut it down just to get our friends out of the ditches. This should be a boom to the economy of the entire area.  The storms will return, trust me. Ma Nature has a way of deciding when, so nothing is carved in stone. Stay Tuned...

  We are tracking a major storm which will start on Thursday (12/8) and last through the weekend. This storm also has a significant moisture tap especially this weekend. The above forecast is for 10am on Saturday (12/10) morning.  The potential of this storm is greater than what we saw last week, where nearly 4 feet of snow fell on Slide Mountain. Here is the precipitation forecast for for the next week: We are looking at another 3-6 feet for Slide Mountain.  Stay Tuned ...

Our next storm should begin to make its presence felt tomorrow (12/3) morning. This storm should produce another 1-2 feet of snow for the Carson Range. It has the potential to be more, but right now we are holding off on a huge event. It will linger through Monday but most of the damage will be done on Sunday. We will receive a bit of a reprieve until at least next Friday. I say "at least" because the EC weather model is forecasting high pressure to move in as a blocking ridge which will send storms north. However, the GFS has another storm coming in on Friday (12/9). Truth be told, the EC weather model is usually more accurate. Looking a bit further out, out next weather maker will be coming in around the 13th of December, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Stay Tuned ...

  This graphic shows you the forecast for mid-morning tomorrow. It is a beautiful depiction of what is known as the Pineapple Express. That is a moisture tail that stretches from Lake Tahoe all the way down to the Hawaiian Islands. These sorts of events pull very moist, warm air from the tropics into the Sierra. They usually bring very heavy rain to the California coast and very deep snow to the Sierra. We have two storms, one south and one north that will merge together to form one very large storm, currently here is what things look like: The fun does not stop there. Late Saturday, another storm system forms with another tropical moisture tap that will bring additional heavy snow to the Sierra: This storm will bring near continuous snow from Saturday evening through Monday. As if that is not enough, we have another large storm poised to hit the Sierra next Friday (12/9): With our ridge of high pressure shoved way out to sea, the storm door should remain open through at least the midd

Our once promising storm set to arrive tomorrow appears to be delayed. Both the ECMWF and GFS models had forecast this as you saw from my last post. However, not all is lost.  The EC weather model is still predicting a series of storms to impact our area starting next Thursday. In addition, we will have hit and miss stormy weather up until that time. Here is the forecast for Thursday, which should bring a significant moisture hit to the area. Things then get more interesting. The ECMWF model is predicting a major event starting next Thursday and lasting through the following Monday. There will be a slight pause on Friday (12/2), then the big stuff comes in. Remember this is in addition to the Thursday storm: This is the forecast for Saturday (12/3).  The good folks over at the NWS would call this an AR event  (atmospheric river). Formerly known as the Pineapple express.  Here is a look at Sunday (12/4): These AR events bring tremendous amounts of precipitation by tapping into tropical

 Currently we have two ridges of high pressure that are dominating our weather. Any and all storms are being shoved north. In addition, our air is so stagnant that we are under a strong temperature inversion. What is a temperature inversion? This occurs when there is little or no wind, almost always during the winter. The warm air rises and the cold air descends. That cold air is trapped and has nowhere to go. Currently it is 20+ degrees warmer in the Sierra than the leeward valleys.  If you read our last post, fear not, change is coming. In fact it is beginning as we speak. A larger storm will drop out of the Gulf of Alaska and begin to shove our ridge out. However, what you can tell by the strength of this inversion, the high pressure dome is quite strong. It will take some time. Here is the forecast for late tomorrow, we are already seeing some movement. By this weekend, our once proud ridge will be all but gone. That will open the storm door into Tahoe. Here is a look at early Satu