With Monday’s last blast of fall, the first day of winter brings less gusty winds and clearing skies before another fast moving, cold winter storm arrives in the Lake Tahoe and the Carson City region Thursday, Christmas Eve.
The National Weather Service advises that motorists traveling over the Sierra for the Christmas holiday should do so by Wednesday because the next system will bring wind, cold temperatures and mountain snow Thursday.
The new system won’t have nearly the amount of moisture as the last storm, which left up to 3 feet of snow in the Sierra. However, the system will be much colder, allowing fluffy snow to quickly accumulate, according to the weather service. It will also be windy, with 30 to 35 mph gusts for the valleys around Carson City and 100 mph around the Sierra crests.
The heaviest precipitation is likely from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, give or take a couple hours, with showers lingering into early Christmas morning.
“On Christmas Day, Carson City will likely wake up to a light coating of snow on the ground and it will be cold out, with temperatures likely to drop down into the single digits Christmas night,” said Chris Smallcomb, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
The system may bring around a foot or more of snow to the Sierra crest with several inches in the Lake Tahoe Basin at lake level.
When taking to the road, motorists should be prepared for weather conditions, carry chains, have a full tank of gas, warm clothes, winter coat, hats and gloves, good traction on your tires, extra food and water and have an emergency travel kit.
Updated state road conditions, from winter road closures to traffic and road incident information, are available by dialing “511” or logging on to nvroads.com before driving. Drivers can also check nevadadot.com to view live traffic cameras.
