Tahoe Daily Snow

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By Bryan Allegretto, Forecaster Posted 3 years ago May 18, 2020

Snowy Start to the Week...

Summary

- Mostly cloudy with snow showers Monday - Tuesday. Highs in the 20s on the mountains and 30s at lake level Monday, 30's-40s for Tuesday. Ridgetop wind gusts to 60+ mph Monday and 30+ mph Tuesday. A dusting of snow possible at lake level, and 3-6 inches possible for the upper elevations. - Wednesday - Friday we should see mostly sunny skies with a chance for increasing clouds Friday. Highs into the 40s on the mountains and 50s at lake level. We could see gusty winds again by Thursday afternoon. A slight chance for showers Friday - Friday night. - High pressure builds in Memorial Day weekend and may last into next week. That should bring mostly sunny skies with warming temperatures. Highs into the 60s at lake level.

Short Term Forecast

I have shifted to the summer posting schedule to once a week, usually on Mondays. Last Monday we talked about a cold and snowy pattern possible to start this week, and it is here. We have another week starting with a cold system moving into the West Coast.

satellite

This is not uncommon in May. We tend to see a snowstorm around Memorial Day each year. This system brought us strong gusty winds on Sunday and some rain showers along the crest. The front pushed through Monday morning with some heavier precipitation and falling snow levels. We are seeing waves of heavier precipitation moving through today (Monday).

radar

Snow levels dropped to just below lake level around 6,000 ft. Monday morning. We have been seeing on and off snow showers in Truckee with some of the heavier showers putting a coating of snow on the ground.

truckee

Up on the mountains along the crest and near the passes like Donner Pass we have seen a few inches of snow accumulate, and chain controls in effect a few times during heavier showers. The upper mountain webcams are looking pretty snowy today.

upper mtn

The snow showers will continue into Tuesday, but expecting lighter intensity. Snow levels may fall near 5000 ft. Monday night and back up to around 7000 ft. Tuesday afternoon. In total, we could see 3-6 inches of snow above 7000 ft. on the mountains, not more than the dusting we have seen expected at lake level. Total precip forecasts show a bit more precip to the south where above 8k we could see 6-12 inches. 

precip

Temperatures are only in the 20s on the upper mountains and 30s at lake level Monday. Ridgetop gusts to 60+ mph but coming down by later in the day. Highs by Tuesday afternoon could be in the 40s at lake level with some peeks of sun.

Behind the Storm:

Wednesday into Thursday we should see some sun and slightly warmer temperatures. Highs in the 40s on the mountains and 50s at lake level. Thursday afternoon we could see some gusty winds as another trough pushes into the West Coast to our north.

This trough and the system for Friday look to push in farther north than the current system.

trough

Most model runs show slightly cooler temperatures for Friday with some clouds, and the possibility that the Tahoe Basin is brushed with some showers at some point Friday- Friday night.

next storm

Extended Forecast

Starting Saturday high pressure looks like it will begin to build in over the West Coast. 

ridge

That should bring nicer weather for Memorial Day weekend. Expecting mostly sunny skies for the 3-day weekend with temperatures warming into the 60s at lake level.

Fantasy Range:

High pressure may remain in controls through week 2 with nicer weather staying with us. We will watch for any late-season troughs near the end of the month into June. Hopefully, we will be transitioning to a quiet summer pattern.

I will have updates on the season total graphs and snowfall through May at the end of the month. If you are trying to do some late-season skiing in the backcountry and are looking for snow depths, you could use this link with a map for all of the SNOTEL sensors. Also, you can use our summer site, OpenSummit, to see the weather forecast for the mountain peaks throughout CA. Lots of cool updates continuing on the site through the summer!

Stay tuned...BA

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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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