Another low pressure center will descend across Nevada over the next few days and increase chances for showers and thunderstorms through the weekend, with the best chance in Reno for storms occurring on Thursday. High temperatures will drop a bit on Thursday (low 70s in the valleys) before climbing back up into the 80s by the weekend. The threat for showers and thunderstorms will diminish by Sunday as high pressure strengthens and provides much warmer and above temperatures next week.

This certainly won’t be the first Memorial Day Weekend with some less than ideal outdoor weather (it seems to happen every year), but even with that low bar, it’s likely to be one of the least “Unofficial Start of the Summer-ish” types of forecasts that we’ve had for a few years.

Cool and showers weather will continue through the Weekend, with a chance of showers and/or thunderstorms right on through. Temperatures will begin to drop on Saturday into the upper 60s and then down to the 50s on Sunday. Precipitation-wise, snow levels will remain above the major passes until late Saturday night, after which they will drop below 7,000’. Total accumulations will likely be light, probably not more than a few inches in the passes above Lake Tahoe, with perhaps twice that down toward Mammoth, but it could be enough to cause some travel issues for those unprepared.

Total Water Content through Sunday 9 pm

Total Snowfall through Sunday 9 pm

Temperatures slowly rebound on Memorial Day Monday (mid-60s) and should make the 70s through the rest of the week, with only a slight chance of mainly afternoon showers.

Unsettled weather will continue through the holiday weekend, with a slight chance of Thursday and Friday showers giving way to a better chance on Saturday and Sunday with the passage of a weak low pressure center. Temperatures will rebound slightly over the next couple of days, reaching the mid-60s Thursday and near 70 on Friday. As the next low passes through over the weekend, showers and isolated thunderstorms will increase, and temperatures will fall back into the low to mid-60s. Memorial Day Monday should warm a few degrees, with fewer showers. Temperatures should rise to near seasonal norms (mid-70s) by the middle of next week.

The week ahead will still be well on the chilly side of average, with occasional storm systems breaking things up between dry spots. Thursday night showers will be cold enough to cause a Winter Weather Advisory for the Lake Tahoe area through the night, but should dry out Friday morning, with high temperatures still struggling to get to the 60 degree mark in the valleys. Saturday will start off dry and cloudy, with the next storm system bringing some mountain rain and snow to the mountains by Saturday afternoon. High temperatures should nudge back up into the 60s. Sunday remains unsettled with showers and highs dropping back into the 50s. Conditions remain cool with isolated to scattered showers through the middle of next week.

Looking at this forecast, a vision of the little girl in the movie “The Shining” keeps popping up in my hear….”It’s baaaaaack….”

Just when you might have thought that warmer spring-like weather was here to stay, a fast moving inside slider type of storm system will make a quick but dramatic pass through the region Tuesday. High temperatures will fall more than 20 degrees from Monday’s highs as a low drops down from the north. This kind of pattern will likely result in as much or more precipitation in the valleys compared to the mountains, so it shouldn’t pose any real difficult travel issues over the passes. Snow levels will range from 6,000-7,000′.

By Wednesday morning the skies will clear and we can expect a moderate to hard freeze in the valleys, so take measures to protect any frost sensitive plants. Temperatures will climb quickly back into the 60s Wednesdays and the 70s by Thursday. A slight chance of showers returns to the region by the weekend.

We have a brief break in the action before the next storm system comes through, and while we may see some more snow coming our way Wednesday into Thursday, it’s not expected to be on the same scale of some of the previous storms to come our way these last several weeks. Because the next storm will be dropping down out of the north, it will exhibit “inside slider” tendencies, which means it’s not likely to be a huge mountain snow producer, but a few valley inches are possible. In addition, the cold flow could create additional Lake Effect snowfalls off the southern ends of Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake.

Snow on the ground will allow temperatures to drop into the low teens and single digits tonight, and the super moon should light up the valley pretty well overnight.  High temperatures will stay in the 30s through the rest of the work week, before warming into the 40s over the weekend.