The weather picture will be much calmer, clearer and drier over the next few days, but don’t expect temperatures to warm up very quickly. A flat ridge of high pressure will build into the west coast as the cold low moves well to the east. Light winds will allow some cold air inversions to build into the valleys, with high temperatures in Reno likely to be about the same as at the lake (mid-40s). Overnight lows will be very cold, in the teens to low 20s throughout, and with some snow left on the ground, we could see some freezing fog in the valleys. The temperatures gradually warm into the mid-50s by Saturday, and the next system looks to be moving through the region on Sunday afternoon.

Lake Effect snow plume, Monday late afternoon.

Much of the snow we received from this last storm was thanks to Lake Effect. But Fred Preller wondered: “If we get lake effect snow downwind from Lake Tahoe, could that work against our future water supply status? I mean, part of the lake effect snow moisture comes out of the lake, and will probably not all go into the snowpack, rather, falling at lower elevations (like my backyard).” The short answer to that is no. I’ll explain why tomorrow.