Carson City area weather: Colder late season storm to bring valley showers, Sierra snow
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Thu, 04/22/2021 - 7:58am
The chances of a late season storm are looking better, with National Weather Service forecasters saying we can expect windy conditions, rain showers across the Carson City region and anywhere from 6 inches to a foot of snow in the higher elevations of the Sierra by Sunday into Monday.
The system is also expected to bring colder temperatures, with highs around Carson City in the low 50s Sunday and Monday, with overnight lows in the low 30s. For Lake Tahoe, highs will be in the low 40s, with overnight lows in the upper 20s, according to the weather service.
Forecasters advise that anyone with travel plans, especially over the mountains, should keep a close eye on the forecast and make sure your vehicle is still winter-ready.
Widespread strong gusty winds are forecast Saturday into Sunday. These winds would bring road and aviation travel impacts across the Sierra and Western Nevada, along with blowing dust, rough lake conditions and localized fire weather concerns in lower elevation dry vegetation, according to the weather service.
There is potential for significant, but not drought busting, moisture with this storm, forecasters say. Sierra passes could experience periods of heavy, wet snows late Saturday night into Sunday and Monday with possible travel impacts and chain controls especially at night.
Mountain communities such as Tahoe, Truckee, and Mammoth Lakes look to vary between rain and snow, with Western Nevada cities like Reno, Sparks, Carson City and Dayton seeing on and off rain showers Sunday into Monday.
As of Thursday morning, the National Weather Service Reno forecast discussion notes the following:
Strong gusty winds continue on Sunday, mainly along and south of I-80, with the strongest winds in Mono and Mineral counties. At this time, there still looks to be around a 30 percent chance of damaging winds for Mono-Mineral. Overall, the peak wind gusts do look to be around 40-50 mph for those areas south of I-80, with lesser winds for the northern areas.
With snow levels dropping to around 5,500 to 6,000 feet, this will bring a couple inches of snow Sunday morning and again Monday morning around the Tahoe Basin and Sierra valleys, with a rain/snow mix and little additional snowfall during the daytime on Sunday.
For the higher elevations and passes above 7,000 feet, precipitation should remain all snow through the event with generally 6 to 12 inches is expected. There is a 25 percent chance we could see amounts up to 18 inches along the Sierra Crest with a potential wetter solution from the ensembles.
Spillover precipitation into the valleys of northeastern California and western Nevada will be limited, with generally less than 0.15 of an inch right along the front as the main moisture plume pushes across the Sierra.
Check the latest forecast at weather.gov/Reno and check road conditions with Caltrans and NDOT. For Carson City area updates see CarsonWeather.com.
