While the weather pattern remains generally unsettled for the next week, the storms moving through the region shouldn’t be as strong as what we’ve had the first six weeks of the year. Scattered snow showers through Thursday, with a possibility of some lake effect snow south of Pyramid Thursday afternoon, could put down anything from a dusting to a few inches of snow in various valley locations. By Friday and Saturday, we get a bit of a break with temperatures warming in the 30s Friday warming into the 40s for the weekend. Another weak to moderate storm moves in Sunday and Monday bringing with it a chance of additional rain or snow in the valleys.

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.

Wild weather is returning to the region, with high winds, significant valley rain and heavy upper elevation snow…all this before the weekend arrives. A strong cold front with a powerful jet stream will move into the region starting Wednesday. Snow levels will be fairly high, possibly rising to 7,000′ or more Wednesday, and heavy high mountain snow will also mean heavy rain in the Lake Tahoe and Reno-Sparks areas. While there might be some localized street flooding thanks to snow blocking storm drains, it’s not likely the larger river will reach flooding stages, even though there will be some rises. A Winter Storm Warning is in effect from late tonight through Thursday, with snow accumulations ranging from nothing in the valleys to several feet above 7,000′ by Thursday night.

A High Wind Warning for the valleys will now start early Wednesday morning and run through Thursday, accompanied by occasional heavy rain. Temperatures will climb to the low 50s Wednesday (with rain likely) and will gradually fall to the low 40s and upper 30s by the end of the weekend. There’s also a slight chance of some freezing rain early Wednesday if warm rain falls into trapped cold air prior to the winds breaking up the inversion.

We have another couple of mostly dry and mild days left before a series of winter storms come back through the region. High temperatures on Thursday will top out in the upper 50s and then again in the mid-50s on Friday. Winds will also pick up on Friday ahead of a moderately strong winter storm (A Winter Storm Watch has been posted for the mountains from late Friday through Saturday). There will be significant shadowing occurring in the valleys with this storm, but some spillover valley rain is expected starting late Friday night into Saturday. The mountains can expect to see anywhere from several inches at the lake to a couple of feet of snow in the upper elevations over the weekend. Snow levels could drop to the valley floor by the end of the weekend, although heavy accumulations in the valleys aren’t expected.

A very active week is setting up weather-wise in our region. A series of storm fronts will move through the region before drying up at the end of the work week. The first storm will likely result in fairly light precipitation of rain and snow into Tuesday morning, with the focus of heavier precipitation off to the east. After a brief break, a couple of stronger storms will move through the region Wednesday and Thursday, with very strong impacts on travel, especially in the mountains. Snow levels will vacillate between the valleys floors to just above Lake Tahoe as the storms move in. The strongest storms will likely come late Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon. High winds could create blizzard conditions over the mountains on Thursday.
Conditions dry out by Friday, and the weekend is shaping up to be dry and mild.