Winter Storm Hitting Tahoe Tuesday

6-hour precipitation totals as of Thursday Morning (this is water, multiply by ~10 for snow). from: NOAA GFS ModelSnow for Tahoe! Thank you, spring. from: NOAA

NOAA has issued a Winter Storm Watch for the Western Slope of the Northern Sierra’s. Well, technically it’s spring, but a Winter Storm Warning is always welcome. Considering ski resort visits drop drastically in March, this could be a killer weather window for the real skiers, who know not to give up on March in Tahoe.

The forecast is calling for snow levels to drop to 4500′ and accumulation of several feet at higher elevations. 1-2′ are expected at 6000′, and its likely that the upper mountains in the region will see more than 3′ of snow! The storm is going to hit on Tuesday afternoon and continue snowing until Thursday. The heaviest snow is expected on Wednesday and into Wednesday Evening. Looks like Thursday is lining up to have the most snow (get those excuses ready).

As NOAA puts it:

.A PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM COULD BRING PERIODS OF HEAVY SNOW AND
STRONG WINDS TO THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF WESTERN PLUMAS AND
NORTHERN SIERRA NEVADA. PRECIPITATION WILL BEGIN BY TUESDAY
AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE INTO WEDNESDAY. HEAVIEST SNOW IS EXPECTED
WEDNESDAY...TAPERING OFF EARLY THURSDAY. SNOW LEVELS WILL
INITIALLY BE 6000 TO 7500 FEET TUESDAY, THEN LOWER TO AROUND 4500
FEET WEDNESDAY. SEVERAL FEET OF SNOW IS POSSIBLE OVER THE HIGHER
TERRAIN.

Looking forward further into the future there is a potential for more storms to hit Tahoe. Climate models show another storm hitting the region around the 1st of April and another storm making landfall on the California coast.

Weather model for the 1st of April. Snow in Tahoe?! from: NOAA