Another blast of winter weather in the early part of spring will continue this week around the Carson City area, Lake Tahoe and Sierra with more cold temperatures, wind and Sierra snow on the way, according to the National Weather Service.
Monday’s weather system produced 7 to 9 inches of snow along the Sierra crest, a trace to 8 inches in Mono County west of US-395, trace to 9 inches in the Tahoe Basin, trace to 0.3″ along valley floors of Reno-Sparks, and 7 to 9 inches along the Carson Range.
With overnight low temperatures dipping into the single digits in the Sierra, and teens and 20s in the lower valleys Tuesday morning, the cold conditions will stick around into Wednesday morning, followed by another round of wind and higher elevation snow beginning late Wednesday, NWS forecasters say.
It will be cold again overnight Tuesday night into Wednesday morning with another round of hard freezes from Reno to Carson City and Carson Valley in Douglas County, with forecast lows inn the mid to upper 20s, forecasters said.
The next storm will begin to impact the Sierra Wednesday night into Thursday causing likely travel impacts for Thursday morning commute, especially in the Sierra and northeastern California.
Forecasters say there may be a few light showers that make it across the Sierra, but overall western Nevada and the eastern Sierra will be dealing with another bout of winds. The probability of strong-damaging winds is less than 20 percent, but wind gusts will be strong enough along and north of I-80 to disrupt high-profile vehicle travel and outdoor recreation.
NWS forecasters in Reno are tracking the potential for another storm, albeit a warmer one, Saturday. Even with the storm potential for Saturday, forecast simulations are hinting at a warm and dry Easter Sunday in between the more active weather.
The latest NWS forecast discussion can be found here and below.
Evening snow and snow showers will develop across the Sierra later Wednesday night and Thursday morning. With the overnight passage of this system into the region, there is moderate confidence that snow accumulations will produce snow covered roads and bring mountain travel impacts for the Thursday morning commute over regions passes.
Probabilistic ensemble guidance favors 4-6 inches of snow or less in the mountains from Lassen Park, southward to the Lake Tahoe Basin and Carson Pass, with a 50/50 chance of a few locations receiving more than 6 inches and up to 8 inches at higher elevations areas.
A few light showers may break over the Sierra into western Nevada and the eastern Sierra, but more wind impacts will effect the region mostly north of I-80 with gusts 30-35 mph. Although winds will be gusty enough Thursday to disrupt high-profile vehicle travel and affect outdoor recreation, the probability of strong-damaging winds remains less than 20 percent across the region.
Easter Weekend
Ensemble guidance is more split on the weather pattern for Easter weekend. Appears a growing number of simulations are showing a warmer weather system reaching the Sierra by Saturday with rain/snow lines above 6,000 feet. Though there are simulations that build a ridge over the western US. Current guidance favors any snow impacts to the Sierra above 6000 feet. So there`s still a chance for a warm/dry Easter weekend, but with at least a southwest flow into the west coast and breezy winds that could impact those planned outdoor weekend plans.
More spring-like conditions are possible early next week as highs in the 70’s return to lower valley locations of western NV. With ensemble cluster guidance favoring the building of higher pressure across the Great Basin into the Sierra we can’t go wrong this time, right?
Check back for updates. For road conditions see NVroads.com.
