Snowfall Report:
The mountain is reporting another foot of new snow in the past 24 hours as of 5 AM Saturday. That brings the 4-day storm total to 52 inches so far, with feet of additional snow on the way!
Saturday – Sunday Snow:
We are on the northern edge of the precipitation to our south with only scattered snow showers around Saturday into Saturday night. Gusty east winds Saturday morning 40-50+ mph up top which will slowly come down through the afternoon. High temperatures warm into the 20s on the upper mountain and 30s at the base. We only expect a coating up to 2 inches at best by early Sunday morning.
Scattered snow showers continue into Sunday morning as the winds turn back to the west and increase, with ridgetop gusts up to 70-80+ mph by afternoon. That should close some upper mountain lifts. Steadier snow moves in by the afternoon as the next storm moves in and continues into Sunday evening. We should transition back to lighter and more scattered snow showers later Sunday night into Monday morning.
Highs are only in the 20s Sunday so the powdery snow continues into Sunday night. Here is the updated snowfall forecast for additional snowfall expected Saturday through Sunday night.
- 8-13 inches at the base.
- 10-15 inches at mid-mountain elevations.
- 12-17 inches up top.
Monday – Wednesday Snow:
Steadier snow is expected to move back into the northern Sierra by Monday afternoon as the next storm moves in. We could see reinforcing waves Tuesday and Wednesday to keep the snow going before ending by Wednesday night. The snow looks to remain fairly steady with waves of moderate-heavy snow moving through into Tuesday night. Then lighter snow showers likely Wednesday before the storm exits.
Strong winds continue through Tuesday with some lift closures likely, then lowering Wednesday. Highs remain in the 20s through Wednesday. This is another cold storm series with strong winds and powdery snow blowing around. Here is the updated snowfall forecast for Monday – Wednesday.
- 36-45 inches at the base.
- 42-51 inches at mid-mountain elevations.
- 48-57 inches up top.
That means we could see up to 120+ inches of snow in total by Thursday for 9-day totals on the mountain!
Long-Range:
We still expect a break in the active pattern from Thursday into next Friday the 3rd, with mostly sunny skies and highs into the 30s. Then storms return by the weekend of the 4th-5th into the week of the 6th as another cold trough is forecast to dig into the West Coast. We’ll continue to watch the trends.
BA
