After a brief break, active weather will return to the Carson City and Sierra regions Thursday bringing mountain snow, valley rain and gusty winds, according to the National Weather Service.
Snow levels will vary between 6,000 to 7,500 feet, with highly variable snow totals in between these elevations. With the wet antecedent conditions, minor flooding is possible for small creeks and streams.
For Carson City, Carson Valley and Dayton areas, rain will develop late tonight into early Thursday morning with rain likely through the day and lessening some Thursday night with a brief break, and then rain likely all day on Friday. There are no weather related watches or warnings for Carson City at this time.
For Lake Tahoe and Sierra, a Winter Storm Warning is in effect from 1 a.m. Thursday to 4 a.m. Saturday above 6,500 feet.
Snow will move into the Sierra late Wednesday night becoming moderate to heavy Thursday morning. Snow is expected to decrease substantially in intensity Thursday afternoon and evening before becoming moderate to heavy again late Thursday night through Friday.
Up to 3 feet of snow is possible above 7,000 feet with the highest amounts along the Sierra crest, with 6 to 12 inches from 6,500 feet to 7,000 feet and up to 6 inches at lake level.
Rivers will rise, but river flooding is not expected. The one river that bears watching is the Middle Fork of the Feather at Portola, which will approach flood stage.
There is more rain and snow on the way for the weekend into early next week, according to the weather service. Models continue to shift much to a wetter and warmer pattern going into the weekend and into early next week. The ridge over Alaska and the Bering Sea will retreat to the north and allow the jet and Pacific moisture to undercut and stream into the West Coast, according to the weather service.
Overall forecaster confidence is still low for the forecast beyond Saturday, but it looks to remain unsettled through next week, the weather service states.
