Thanks to the 3rd snowfall in a week in NJ our friends flight to Reno was delayed for hours leaving JFK.  They didn't get in until 3 a.m., so I'm running on very little sleep here this morning and I have to entertain.  So I'll keep this short.

The snow showers that moved through overnight were weak but actually did a little better than expected.  I was doubtful in even a dusting of snow and a few ski resorts are reporting up to an inch of snow and the rest a coating.  The East side of the lake resorts are all reporting an inch of fresh snow.

Here is a shot a reader sent from Heavenly last night.

Much colder air is here for the weekend.  Temperatures have been falling all night and are in the teens on the mountain tops this morning.

Winds are also gusting to 75 mph this morning.  That would make the wind chill feel like it's below zero this morning on the mountain tops.  The strong wind gusts are expected through the weekend with highs only the 30's.  So it will feel colder and there could be some lift closures.

Mon-Tue the winds should come down a bit and we should warm into the 40's.  But not for long as the next cold trough brings more wind, cold air, and snow on Wednesday.  Again, the track of the trough is over land from the North so not much moisture to work with.  We could see 1-4 inches of snow on the mountains.

Here is a look at the total precipitation forecast.

It may stay cold into the weekend of the 23rd.  The forecast models are at odds with how close to the coast the ridge sits Christmas week.  The difference would just be how cold it stays.

Then the ridge should shift up towards Alaska the last 5 days of the month.  About half of the GFS ensemble members now show storms breaking into CA by the end of the month, and 1/3rd of the European members.  So we are up to about 38% of the model members now showing the possibility.  Still the odds are against us, but the pattern looks better the later in the month we go and into January.

Stay tuned...BA

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