The Atmospheric River NOAA has been tracking will hit California tonight through Friday morning.ย 1-3 feet of snow is forecast above 7,000-feet with winds as high as 130mph on Sierra ridges.ย A Winter Storm Warning has been issued beginning at 4am Thursday and ending at 4am on Friday.
A WINTER STORM WILL IMPACT THE REGION TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT WITH
HIGH WINDS, FOLLOWED BY HEAVY SNOW IN THE SIERRA AND RAIN FOR LOWER
ELEVATIONS. - NOAA Reno, NV today
NOAA is forecasting 7-18″ of snow below 7,000-feet and 1-3 feet of snow above 7,000-feet.
* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS: ABOVE 7000 FEET...1 TO 2 FEET WITH
LOCALLY UP TO 3 FEET NEAR THE SIERRA CREST. BELOW 7000
FEET...7 TO 14 INCHES EXCEPT 12 TO 18 INCHES WEST OF HIGHWAY
89. - NOAA Reno, NV today
Snow forecast map for NorCal on Wed-Fri. RED = 12-18″ of snow forecast. ORANGE = 12-18″ of snow forecast.
Snow levels will start high at around 8,000-feet tonight before dropping down to 5,500-feet by Thursday afternoon.ย Snow levels should be down to ski resort base areas by Thursday morning.
* SNOW LEVELS: 8000 TO 8500 FEET TONIGHT...THEN FALLING TO
BELOW 5500 FEET BY EARLY THURSDAY AFTERNOON. - NOAA Reno, NV today
ย
SNOW LEVELS WILL PLUNGE RAPIDLY FOR NORTHEAST CA-NORTHWEST NV BY
MID-LATE MORNING, WITH A CHANGEOVER FROM HEAVY RAIN TO HEAVY SNOW
FOR TRUCKEE AND TAHOE BASIN AROUND MIDDAY, AND FOR EARLY AFTERNOON
WEST OF HIGHWAY 395 IN MONO COUNTY. - NOAA Reno, NV today
Graph of forecast snow levels for the base of Squaw Valley (see bottom row).ย Starting Thursday morning, snow levels look good for Tahoe ski resorts.
Winds will bestrong with this storm as the jet stream comes right over Tahoe.ย Winds will gust over 100mph on Sierra ridges.
PEAK GUSTS COULD REACH 65-75 MPH DURING THIS EVENT, WITH LOCAL GUSTS NEAR
85 MPH IN WIND PRONE AREAS, AND NEAR 130 MPH FOR SIERRA RIDGES.
- NOAA Reno, NV today
Very high snow probability for California Thurs-Fri. image: noaa, today
Another atmospheric river storm is forecast to hit California on Sunday-Monday.ย Snow totals and full details are still uncertain.ย This storm will be colder with higher snow ratios with some talk of up to 3-feet of snow..
WE ARE CONSIDERING AN INCREASE TO THE HIGHER END OF THE SNOWFALL RANGE
(UP TO 3 FEET NEAR THE CREST) WHEN THE NEXT WINTER STORM STATEMENT IS
ISSUED. - NOAA Reno, NV today
MEDIUM RANGE MODELS ARE STILL IN GOOD AGREEMENT SHOWING ANOTHER
STORM TO AFFECT THE REGION THIS WEEKEND. FORECASTER CONFIDENCE
REMAINS HIGH THAT THIS STORM WILL BRING STRONG WINDS AND SNOW TO THE
REGION, WITH TRAVEL IMPACTS LATE SUNDAY INTO MONDAY MORNING. DETAILS
SURROUNDING THE STORM, SUCH AS SNOW AMOUNTS AND WIND SPEEDS ARE
STILL A BIT UNCERTAIN, BUT OVERALL FORECAST CONFIDENCE IS RISING.
- NOAA Reno, NV today
THE MAIN ATMOSPHERIC RIVER AND PRECIPITATION WILL PUSH INTO THE
NORTHERN SIERRA SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND PUSH THROUGH THE REGION BY
MONDAY MORNING. THIS STORM LOOKS COLDER THAN THE THURSDAY STORM,
WITH HIGHER SNOW RATIOS AND SNOW LEVELS FALLING TO ALL VALLEY FLOORS
SUNDAY EVENING BEHIND THE COLD FRONT. - NOAA Reno, NV today
The west coast is about to get clobbered with precipitation
WINTER STORM WARNING for CALIFORNIA:
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV
401 AM PST WED DEC 9 2015
GREATER LAKE TAHOE AREA-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...SOUTH LAKE TAHOE...TAHOE CITY...
TRUCKEE...MARKLEEVILLE...GLENBROOK...INCLINE VILLAGE
...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM THURSDAY TO
4 AM PST FRIDAY...
* TIMING: SNOW WILL MOVE INTO THE LAKE TAHOE BASIN LATE TONIGHT
WITH HEAVY SNOWFALL BY THURSDAY MORNING. SNOW WILL DECREASE
BY THURSDAY EVENING WITH SNOW SHOWERS LINGERING INTO FRIDAY
MORNING.
* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS: ABOVE 7000 FEET...1 TO 2 FEET WITH
LOCALLY UP TO 3 FEET NEAR THE SIERRA CREST. BELOW 7000
FEET...7 TO 14 INCHES EXCEPT 12 TO 18 INCHES WEST OF HIGHWAY
89.
* WINDS: STRONG WINDS ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT INTO THURSDAY
MORNING.SOUTHWEST 30 TO 45 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 65 MPH.
RIDGE GUSTS UP TO 125 MPH. DAMAGE TO TREES IS POSSIBLE.
* SNOW LEVELS: 8000 TO 8500 FEET TONIGHT...THEN FALLING TO
BELOW 5500 FEET BY EARLY THURSDAY AFTERNOON.
* IMPACTS: SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW WITH WHITEOUT CONDITIONS AND
ICY ROADS. SNOWFALL RATES WILL EXCEED PLOWING CAPABILITIES
AT TIMES. THIS INCLUDES INTERSTATE 80...HIGHWAY 50...
CALIFORNIA HIGHWAYS 88...89...267 AND NEVADA HIGHWAYS 28...
207 AND 431. SIGNIFICANT DELAYS AND DANGEROUS WINTER WEATHER
CONDITIONS POSSIBLE FOR BACK COUNTRY ACTIVITIES.
image: noaa, today
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY for CALIFORNIA:
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
415 AM PST WED DEC 9 2015
TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...CAMP NELSON...GIANT FOREST...
JOHNSONDALE...LODGEPOLE
...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM THURSDAY
TO 7 AM PST FRIDAY...
* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS...6 TO 9 INCHES ABOVE 7000 FEET AND 3 TO 6
INCHES ABOVE 5000 FEET. UP TO 2 INCHES AT 4000 FEET. LOCALLY
HEAVIER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE.
* TIMING...LATE THURSDAY MORNING THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING WITH THE
BULK OF THE SNOW DURING THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SNOW
LEVELS ARE EXPECTED AROUND 6000 FEET LATE THURSDAY MORNING AND
LOWER TO AROUND 4000 FEET BY LATE THURSDAY NIGHT.
* IMPACTS...SLICK...SNOW COVERED ROADS AND WINTER DRIVING
CONDITIONS. TRAVEL DELAYS AND CHAIN CONTROLS WITH POSSIBLE
ROAD CLOSURES.
7-day liquid precipitation forecast map showing aobut 4″ of liquid precip for Tahoe. That would translate to about 4-feet of snow… image: noaa, today
Weather
Good explainer, but the current system approaching NorCal is NOT an Atmospheric River. Even NWS Sac has removed mention of it from their webpage.