As of 6 a.m. Thursday, Palisades Tahoe has reported 25 inches of new snow at the summit, with the storm still rolling through the Sierra. Snowfall is expected to continue through Saturday morning, setting up a deep weekend on the mountain.
The storm arrives just as the 2025/26 Ikon Pass goes on sale today. Early buyers can lock in the lowest price and start planning for another big winter at Palisades and beyond.
Snowfall Report, courtesy of Palisades Tahoe’s Bryan Allegretto:
This is going to be a long post because we picked up a lot of snow overnight and we have a very active period ahead!
We saw some rain for the lower elevations near the base during the day on Wednesday as expected, and light snowfall amounts. The sensor on the upper mountain only had 3 inches on it as of 5 PM. Then THUMP overnight as much colder air moved in with very heavy snowfall rates and the winds dropped.
That brought us the best overnight powder dump of the season! 22 inches of new snow fell overnight from the base up to the top of the mountain, bringing the 24-hour total to 25 inches up top as of 5 AM! That means we’ve already picked up the forecasted totals for the storm which isn’t quiet finished with us yet.
Thursday Snow Showers:
The heavy snow has moved out of the region, but a cold moist flow over the mountains will bring scattered snow showers into Thursday evening. Highs are only in the 20s with lighter winds. Any snow that falls will be the icing on the cake for this awesome powder day.
The snow levels will stay below 4500 feet and the snow ratios will stay high averaging around 14-19:1 on the mountains. That could bring us 2-5 inches of snow of additional snowfall at the base and 3-7 inches on the mountain by early Friday morning.
Friday Storm:
The next storm is much smaller and will move in after daybreak on Friday continuing the snow showers into Friday night. Highs in the 30s for the lower elevations and 20s for the higher elevations. Ridgetop winds gusting up to 50-70+ mph from the west, which could affect a few exposed upper mountain lifts.
The snow levels are very low Friday morning and stay well below the base through Friday night. That will bring another round of cold dry snow and snow ratios around 15-20:1 on the mountain. By Saturday morning we could see an additional 4-8 inches of snow near the base, 5-10 near mid-mountain, and 7-12 inches up top.
The Weekend:
The storms continue to hit the Pacific NW through the weekend but the precipitation is forecast to stay to our north. We will see some clouds and gusty winds from the storms to the north, but partly sunny skies on both days.
Highs in the 30s on Saturday and 40s for the lower elevations on Sunday. Ridgtop winds from the west gusting up to 30-50+ mph Saturday morning and 50-70+ mph by evening. Then on Sunday, southwest winds increase gusting up to 60-80+ mph in the morning and 80-100+ mph by evening.
So watch for some lift closures over the weekend and cold wind chills, as well as some blowing snow over the ridges.
Sunday Night – Monday Storm:
The next storm pushes into the Pacific NW on Sunday but is slow to push south into the northern Sierra as it encounters the high pressure over the region this weekend. The cold front will finally help to push precipitation in Sunday evening with steady snow into Monday morning and snow showers into Monday evening.
This storm is stronger than the Friday storm but not quite as strong as the storm we had Wednesday night. Ridgetop winds will be gusting from the west up to 40-60+ mph on Monday with highs in the 30s for the lower elevations and 20s for the higher elevations.
The snow levels could start higher Sunday evening up around 6500-7000 ft. with a start as rain near the base, similar to the Wednesday storm. Then the drop overnight down to around 5500-6000 ft. by early Monday morning, and well below the base by Monday evening.
By Tuesday morning we could be measuring an additional 7-13 inches of snow near the base, 13-18 inches near mid-mountain, and 16-22 inches up top. We’ll continue to watch the trends on this storm and will fine-tune the forecast over the next few days.
Tuesday – Wednesday Forecast:
We are expecting a break between storms for Tuesday into Wednesday. We’ll see partly-mostly sunny skies and lighter winds. Highs in the 30s for Tuesday and 40s for the lower elevations on Wednesday.
Additional Storms Possible:
The long-range models continue to show more storms moving through the Pacific NW later next week. One around Wednesday Night into next Thursday and another around Friday night into Saturday the 22nd. Both of these storms could just brush us on the southern edge.
Some of the forecast models show some heavier precipitation with the second storm, while others have both just brushing us with lighter amounts. We’ll continue to watch the trends on these storms for later next week to see if they will dig far enough south to bring us more snow.
Long-Range Forecast:
The longer-range models continue to show high-pressure building in near the West Coast starting around the 23rd through at least the 26th of March. That should bring us a drier and milder weather pattern for a few to several days.
But the ensemble mean models continue to suggest more troughing for the West Coast by the end of the month, and now possibly as early as the 27th-28th into the beginning of April. We are getting into cut-off low season by then so maybe we will see a slow-moving low-pressure system moving through the region with some snow for the Sierra. We’ll see…
There is a wetter signal starting to show up for the last few days of March into the first few days of April. We’ll continue to watch the trends to see if we could see any more late-season powder days.
Photos, courtesy of Palisades Tahoe
