Carson City area weekend weather: Sunny and breezy with a slight chance of showers, Sierra snow
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Fri, 03/08/2024 - 3:03pm
With a relatively sunny weekend ahead, Carson City area and surrounding counties may experience a series of "quick hitting systems" that could bring slight chances of showers and breezy conditions, according to the National Weather Service.
Sierra travel impacts will be possible. The extended outlook starting later next week holds strong with drier conditions on the horizon.
The first in a series of quick-hitting troughs will sweep through Saturday with increased breezes and potential for rain/snow showers, forecasters note in the latest weather discussion on Friday. The snow potential will be primarily for the Lake Tahoe Basin north into Lassen and northern Washoe counties.
Overall, this storm will bring more nuisance-type light snow showers with low totals of a trace to 2 inches. By the afternoon, forecasters say plan on gusty winds along the Sierra, 45 mph to 60 mph and breezy conditions for much of the lower valleys and foothills, 25 mph to 40 mph. A short period of choppy lake conditions could develop for a few hours Saturday afternoon before the winds subside toward sunset.
Sierra ridge winds will likely stay elevated from Saturday into Sunday as the next trough approaches the Sierra and western Nevada. Valley wind gusts will taper a bit Sat PM into Sun, but then pick back up again by late Sunday morning with gusts approaching 40 to 50 mph for the lower elevations and foothill areas.
Precipitation, around a 60 to 80 percent chance, with this next trough arrives by late Sunday afternoon with the bulk of the snow in the Sierra and northeast California overnight into Monday.
Total snowfall in the high Sierra will vary from 4-8 inches while Sierra communities around Lake Tahoe potentially seeing 1-3 inches through early Monday. Generally, western Nevada can plan on some light rain before sunrise Monday morning, NWS forecasters said.
"The storm passes through quickly with only some lingering light showers by Monday morning commute time. Give yourself a bit of extra time Monday morning since the roads may be slick, and also the non-weather factor of the daylight saving time on Sunday (springing forward!) may have folks rushing to work," according to NWS forecasters.
Monday night into Tuesday brings the next bit of rain/snow potential as the last in the series of troughs pushes through the Sierra and western Nevada. For now, this storm looks similar to the Sunday storm, so plan on another round of snowfall in the Sierra that may hinder Sierra pass travel, mainly for the Tuesday morning commute.
With part of the event occurring in the daytime, accumulation potential may be limited especially for areas below 7000 feet, NWS forecasters said.
As of the outlook, forecasters say the extended trend looks to be dry and warmer from midweek onward.
