Weather Update from National Weather Service
Strong “atmospheric river” moving in
- “A strong atmospheric river storm will move into the region Sunday through Tuesday, bringing heavy rainfall, heavy snow to the High Sierra, and strong gusty winds to the region.”
- “Winds will start to increase on Sunday afternoon as the powerful storm system moves closer to the California coast. Wind gusts up to 45 mph may be possible Sunday, with Sierra ridges increasing to over 70 mph.”
- “By Sunday night, the powerful Pacific storm moves into the Sierra and begins to spill over into western Nevada as a deep atmospheric river (AR) noses in. Multiple impacts are expected with this storm, including heavy rainfall, flooding, heavy snow, and strong winds.”
How this will affect operations for Sunday, February 19
This afternoon we saw higher winds move into the area and we’re anticipating those winds to stick around tomorrow and even pick up tomorrow afternoon. This could impact our operations, but we will be bringing full staff to both mountains in hopes to operate all chairlifts on the schedule tomorrow.
Looking Ahead
Monday could be greatly impacted by winds
The heaviest precipitation amounts look to be Monday and Monday night with the best moisture transport into the region. Impressive 700mb flow will peak out around 60-80kts during this time and will bring very efficient spillover into the eastern Sierra, Lake Tahoe Basin, and western Nevada. Overall, we expect to see around 3-6 inches of precipitation in the Sierra, with 1-2 inches of precipitation into the valleys of western Nevada and the lower valleys of northeast CA.
“They (forecasters) are using the term ‘damaging’ for winds on Monday. Our operations will likely be impacted at Squaw Valley, given this current forecast, but we’ll have to watch, wait and see.” – Jimmy King, Mountain Manager at Squaw Valley
The good news..
MORE SNOW is coming!
“Above 7000 feet we could see an additional 2-4 feet by Tuesday morning.” – resident weather blogger, BA
