Tahoe Daily Snow

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By Bryan Allegretto, Forecaster Posted 5 years ago April 17, 2018

Memorable Finish...

Summary

Sunny today with lights winds. Highs in the 30's on the mountains and 40's at lake level. Wednesday we see an increase in clouds and winds with ridge top gusts to 50 mph. Wednesday night into Thursday morning we are brushed by a weak storm moving through to our South. We could see some snow showers on the mountains with a coating of snow up to a couple inches possible. Highs remain cool through Thursday in the 30's on the mountains and 40's at lake level. For the weekend high pressure builds in with sun and warming temps. We should see highs into the 50's on the mountains, and 60's at lake level. Next week some storms move through to our North. We may see some cooler air and some gusty winds starting Monday. Right now it looks like at best we could see a few showers Monday and again Wedensday-Thursday.

Short Term Forecast

Yesterday was a top 5 powder day of the season for me.  I hope a lot of you were able to get out and enjoy what was likely the last powder day of the season.  Temperatures were in the 20's all day with continued snow showers that dropped an additional 2-9 inches of snow. 

powder

With a Miracle March and then a couple cold powder days to start April, it has been a memorable finish after dismal snow most of the season.

Adding in the snowfall from yesterday here are the totals.  Sierra had 15 inches already yesterday morning and closed for the season yesterday so no report today.  But they are likely the winners from this storm, they may have ended up with over 20 inches.

reports

Here is the final keep me honest forecast versus actual report for the season.  This storm came in on or slightly over forecast.

kmh

For the updated stats I take the average of the upper mountain snowfall numbers from the ski resorts and the 8-station northern sierra precip numbers.  

stats

We have 6 mountains left open this week to enjoy the great Spring conditions, and that will drop to 3 next week.  Plus the back country which is in great shape, especially above 8k.

closing

We do have a weak storm moving through Wednesday night into Thursday.  The low should track to our South and we get brushed with light precip.  Best shot of an inch or two of snow looks to be along the crest, especially Southwest of the lake.  Overall we stay cool through Thursday with some gusty winds Wednesday into Thursday.

For the weekend high pressure builds in finally.

ridge

Since we are in late April by then we will warm up quickly into the 50's and 60's.  That will make for nice Spring Skiing this weekend.

Extended Forecast

Next week and into the beginning of May the weather does look like it will remain active to our North.  We will have troughs moving through the West Coast, but we have a better chance of getting shots of cooler air and wind this time of year than significant precip.

Monday we could see some cooler air, gusty winds, and a chance of showers.  Another system Wednesday-Thursday could bring more of the same.

trough1

The GFS is the most aggressive with a few tenths of an inch of liquid on top a couple tenths this Thursday.

gfs

So I will keep an eye on that for next week to see if we could see a few inches of fresh snow. 

The European ensemble runs are quieter with our weather and have high pressure as we go into May.  But the GFS ensembles show another trough the first week of May.

trough2

So we may have to deal with a few more shots of cooler air and gusty winds with some snow showers the next few weeks.  But not expecting any more shin deep cold powder days like yesterday until next season.

Stay tuned...BA

P.S.  I may switch to every other day posts until we see another storm.

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About Our Forecaster

Bryan Allegretto

Forecaster

Bryan Allegretto has been writing insightful posts about snow storms for over the last 15 years and is known as Tahoe's go-to snow forecaster. BA grew up in south Jersey, surfing, snowboarding, and chasing down the storms creating the epic conditions for both.

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