Wednesday – Friday:
We are expecting the mostly sunny skies to continue during the day through Friday. Lighter winds and mild temperatures for Wednesday with high temperatures warming into the 50s at the base and 40s up top.
Thursday into Friday we will see gusty winds return from the southwest as colder air begins to filter in. Ridgetop gusts increasing to 50+ mph. Highs in the 40s at the base and 30s up top Thursday and 30s for Friday. A weak system moving through Thursday night could bring a few snow showers and possibly a dusting of snow 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 night into Saturday. Snow levels starting below the base and then rising Saturday up towards mid-mountain. From mid-mountain to the top we could see 1-3 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. How far south the heavier precipitation pushes with this system is still uncertain. 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 initial forecast is around 3-6 inches but we will have to fine-tune that over the next few days. 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 but the gusty winds may increase again ahead of the next storm. We may see another weak/moderate storm move through northern CA next Tuesday-Wednesday. This system also doesn’t look significant right now, but it could bring a few to several more inches of fresh snow to the mountain.
The pattern may remain active through the end of next week with another system possibly moving through next Thursday-Friday. Then we may go into a drier pattern at least briefly the following week.
BA