Summary:

Mild weather will be with us through the weekend with high pressure over the area.  Highs will be in the 60's at lake level and 50's on the mountains.  By Tuesday high pressure departs and low pressure approaches the West Coast.  We could see precip starting Tuesday and lasting through Thursday as the low moves across CA.  We could see a decent amount of snow on the mountains with snow levels dropping to lake level during the storm.  The next storm could arrive by Sunday the 26th, and another Tuesday the 28th.

Details:

Since the last post I did find the announcement that all the resorts still open will close on Sunday.  So we will be talking about snowfall the next few weeks that you will have to hike to get.  We will have mild weather through the weekend.  I am traveling back to CA today and I will be back to Donner Summit by Tuesday to report if we do start to see snow. 

We have been talking about a pattern change for next week and it still looks like it could happen.  High pressure along the West Coast looks like it will shift North into Canada next week.  That will allow a trough to dig down into the Easter Pacific.  There will be a low sitting off the CA coast by next Tuesday and we could begin to see some light precip as moisture begins to push inland.  

Wednesday into Thursday the cold low looks like it will move across the state.  It is too early to know the exact track, but we may be in for a couple of days of rain and snow.  There should be enough cold air with this storm to drop snow levels to lake level at some point as the cold front moves through.  Early estimates of snowfall potential are up to a foot or more of snow on the mountain.  So we will keep tracking this storm.

Long-Range: 

This may be just the beginning of an unsettled pattern that may last through the end of the month into the beginning of May if the ensemble forecast trends are right.  The storm door looks to stay open, but this time of year the storms are not what they could be in the Winter.  The next system could push in the weekend of the 25th with subsequent systems into the last week of April.  The origin of these storms is from the North Pacific so they would have cold with them and snow for the mountains.

It's too bad there wasn't enough base left for the mountains to stay open through the end of the month.  We could have a couple more powder days if they were.  We will keep watching and tracking the potential unsettled pattern as long as it lasts even though the resorts are closing.  

Stay tuned....BA