Thursday – Friday:
Thursday afternoon into Friday we have mostly sunny skies, with clouds increasing later Friday. We will see gusty winds return from the southwest as colder air begins to filter in. Ridgetop gusts increasing to 70+ mph. Highs in the 40s at the base and 30s on the mountain.
The Weekend:
Friday night into Saturday the next system pushes moisture into northern CA. We could see snow showers break out Friday evening into Saturday. Snow levels starting below the base and then rising Saturday up towards mid-mountain. We could see 1-3 from the base up to mid-mtn before a change to rain. From mid-mountain to the top we could see 3-7 inches of snow through Saturday afternoon. Gusty ridgetop winds continue up to 50+ mph.
Saturday night we could see a brief break with snow levels rising towards the top of the mountain. Then a front moving through Sunday is expected to bring more precipitation and gusty winds. The heaviest precipitation may fall Sunday afternoon/evening with the passage of the cold front. Snow levels may start around 8000 ft. Sunday before falling through the day down to the base by Sunday evening.
We could see several inches of snow with this system above 7000 ft. on the upper mountain. The latest model runs would bring around 3-5 inches of additional snowfall on the upper mountain for a storm total of 6-12 inches by Monday morning. Rain changes to snow at the base Sunday night. We could see 1-3 inches from the base up to mid-mountain by Monday morning.
Long-Range:
We should clear out briefly on Monday with highs in the 30s on the mountain, but the gusty winds may continue ahead of the next storm. We could see several systems move through to our north next week from Tuesday – Saturday. How far south these storms track is still uncertain. They may only brush us with light snow, or one could possibly dip farther south and bring us accumulating snowfall.
We may go into a drier pattern the week of the 21st.
BA
