After a break in weather systems today, unsettled conditions will return through the end of the work week with rain expected in the Carson City region, up to two feet around 7,000 feet at Lake Tahoe and possibly several feet in the high Sierra, according to the National Weather Service.
Winter conditions will impact travel across Sierra passes from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday as a deep system pushes onshore out of the Pacific. A Winter Storm Watch is in effect for much of the Sierra.
The storms will come in two waves, according to the weather service’s latest forecast discussion, and for now, will likely keep the snow in the Sierra with rain in the valleys.
The first wave is expected to reach the Sierra by noon Tuesday, overspreading Western Nevada Tuesday evening until after midnight, very early Wednesday morning. After this, western Nevada becomes more shadowed while the focus of the wave shifts from Mono County northward, according to the weather service.
The second surge will begin Wednesday early afternoon into Thursday morning, with the storm primarily hitting the Lake Tahoe Basin northward. Snow levels will be down to around 6,500 to 7,000 feet and possibly down to lake level, though the weather service suggests much of the storm’s impact will be above 7,000 feet, bringing up to 2 feet of snow for the mountains surrounding the Lake Tahoe Basin and into Alpine County with locally higher totals toward the Sierra Crest.
