I will likely pick up the pace of posting a bit this week as we have the first storm of the season moving in this weekend. I mentioned this storm in the weekly forecast last Friday. The models have been consistent all week and now the media is jumping on it.

Until the storm arrives we still have the Mosquito fire burning to our west with heavy smoke continuing to stream into the region.

Highs into the 60s Friday and Saturday. It continues to be unhealthy to be doing activities outdoors.

The Storm:

Last week the European model was the most aggressive with a storm for this weekend. Over the last several days the other models jumped on board. The trend is for the trough to dig south along the West Coast over the weekend and into early next week, and not to just sweep through the region.

This trough will bring colder air and highs only into the 50s for the weekend and likely through Wednesday. An area of low pressure will spin up along the West Coast and could sit there and move slowly east for a few days. At first, the southerly flow could prevent rain from moving over the crest and into the Tahoe Basin, but eventually, we could see some rain sometime Sunday.

Here is a look at our forecast radar map for early Sunday morning as the moisture pushes into northern CA.

The good news is that the rain will reach the fire before it pushes into the Tahoe Basin. That should start to help with suppression and smoke. Low pressure slowly moving east through the region through Tuesday-Wednesday could keep the chances for showers and cooler weather around.

In total, the models show between 1-2 inches of total precipitation over the mountains through Wednesday. That could have a big impact on suppressing the fire.

That would also be a good start to the wet season and will help to lower the chances for more fires to ignite, at least for a little while.

I will likely update again over the weekend on what is happening with the storm and the latest forecast model projections for total precipitation.

As far as potential snowfall, the snow levels look to be between 9000-10000 ft. at night by Sunday night. So the lowest snow levels should bottom out around 9k. That could whiten the tallest peaks around the basin above 9000 ft. A reminder that winter is just around the corner!

By Thursday into the weekend of the 23rd-25th, high pressure is forecast to build back in over the West Coast.

That could return us to a dry pattern in the long-range and warm highs back at least into the 60s.

We always look forward to an early season system to whiten the peaks, but we are looking forward to this system even more as the region needs relief from the heavy smoke.

Stay tuned...BA

Last week we started to release our "weather anywhere" feature! If you have an iPhone and our app, make sure the latest update for the OpenSnow app is installed. Then open the app, go to the "maps" page, click the navigation arrow in the upper right corner, and wallah! The forecast details for where you are standing will pop up!

You can also tap any place on the map for the forecast, or search a place, any place, not just mountains! I'm excited about all we are working on and chasing the snow with you this upcoming season!