Drier Pattern:
We are back into a drier pattern through the 26th with high-pressure building in over CA. There is a dry cold front that could bring some clouds Friday night and a few models show a system nearly brushing us with snow showers on Christmas. But overall most models keep us dry through next Tuesday. Partly-mostly sunny each day. (after the morning fog burns off).
High temperatures into the 40s for the lower elevations near the base and 30s for the upper mountains, with only a brief cooldown behind the dry cold front Saturday before backing into the 40s (30s up top) for Sunday through Tuesday.
Long-Range Forecast:
The long-range models still show a pattern that will try to push storms into CA starting around the 27th with a more active pattern possibly continuing into the beginning of January. The first storm is forecast to move in on the 27th and possibly into the 28th. The next storm behind that one is forecast for the 29th-30th on most models.
These storms are slowing and starting to weaken a bit by the time they reach the Sierra, but may hold together enough to bring us several inches of snow to the mountain each. We’ll continue to watch the trends as the storms get closer. But the storms are still there this morning on the latest model runs.
Looking way out there, the long-range models show the more active pattern possibly continuing into the first week of January. No big storms on the models yet, or that we have confidence in that far out. We’ll let you know as soon as we are confident in giving a snowfall forecast for each storm.
BA
