Carson City area weather: Storms to bring multiple feet of snow to Sierra, several inches to valley floors

With a series of winter storms aimed at the Sierra, western Nevada and Carson City areas, a flurry of National Weather Service advisories and watches are in effect with plenty of snow from the Sierra to the valley floors on the way this week.

The next storm arrives Sunday evening through Monday, bringing more snow and some breezy winds. A significant storm will impact the region Wednesday and Thursday, with the potential for heavy snow accumulation in the Sierra and even into western Nevada. Heavy mountain snow may continue into the weekend.

Go here for the latest National Weather Service advisories and watches.

In the short term: After a chilly morning, another round of snow begins Sunday evening bringing light to moderate snow accumulation across much of the region and potential headaches for Monday morning's commute. Expect delays and slick driving conditions from the Sierra across western and central Nevada, according to the weather service.

Changes from the previous forecast were to linger snow chances south of Highway 50 where northerly flow will have an upslope component along terrain; especially in southern Mono County which could see snow and snow showers continuing into Monday evening now, according to the weather service.

Snow amounts remain unchanged for the region: 1 to 4 inches across western Nevada, 3 to 6 inches for Sierra valleys and the Tahoe Basin, and 6 to 12 inches for higher elevations in the Sierra.

Some acute issues could arise from lake enhanced snow bands off of Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake with localized higher totals and heavier snowfall rates possible. The eastern shore of Lake Tahoe and adjacent valleys along the Sierra Front are good candidates for narrow banding locations Sunday night and early Monday morning.

Winds switch more northerly just prior to daybreak with potential for bands off of the long axis of Pyramid Lake reaching Interstate 80 in the vicinity of Fernley.

While winds will generally be much lighter than with average storms for the region, cold air advection along and behind the cold front will promote wind gusts around 30 mph. This could blow around some snow causing lower visibility at times, especially east of the Virginia Range mid and late Monday morning.

The main winter storm is expected late Tuesday and will last on and off into Friday morning, according to the weather service.

After a sluggish start to our snow totals so far this season, winter seems to want to happen all at once as a very active pattern is expected to take hold into the start of February.

The big storm in all of this is targeting its peak strength in the late Tuesday into late Thursday timeframe with a solid 36-48 hour period of heavy snow across the Sierra.

Multiple feet of snow are expected in this duration as an atmospheric river moisture source pushes into the Sierra. While 3-4 feet of snow is what looking most favorable during this stretch along the Sierra crest (1-3` lower Sierra basins), there is potential on the high end to reach 5-6 feet along the crest mainly where the atmospheric river plume pivots back northward as the trough digs offshore.

Currently odds favor just south of the Tahoe Basin into Alpine and Mono counties, but still a bit far out to pin this down with solid confidence.

A period of gusty southerly winds look to accompany this storm mainly Tuesday night into Wednesday morning which will likely yield whiteout conditions in areas of blowing snow. This will make travel through the Sierra near impossible.

If you need to travel across the Sierra next week, Tuesday morning might be your only decent opportunity to do so. After this storm tapers down on Friday, additional reinforcing waves of moderate to heavy snowfall are possible Saturday into the start of February.

Areas across western Nevada will also see potential for moderate to heavy snowfall with this storm with intermittent periods of a rain/snow mix during the afternoon hours on Wednesday and Thursday. Foothill areas above 5000 feet should do well in terms of snowfall with potential for 6-12 inches.

Lower valleys along US-395 could see around 6 inches broken up into periods of a couple inches at a time Wednesday morning and then with a change over back to snow Wednesday night into Thursday morning. As the main atmospheric river begins to pivot back northward, western Nevada will become more shadowed out through the day on Thursday.

The main axis of the low shifts inland and will begin to taper down snowfall through the day on Friday, but as mentioned before, additional reinforcing waves look to to continue through the weekend and into early the following week.

Check the latest forecast at weather.gov/Reno and check road conditions with Caltrans and NDOT.
For the latest weather discussion go here. For Carson City area updates see CarsonWeather.com.