Carson City storm update: Snow to continue through morning, another system arrives Wednesday

A winter storm that has dumped between 3 to 6 feet of snow in the Sierra and brought a few inches thus far to Carson City and neighboring counties will continue into Tuesday, with some clearing before another storm system arrives Wednesday.

A Winter Storm Warning will continue to 10 a.m. Tuesday morning for Reno and Washoe County, Carson City, Douglas, Lyon and Storey counties, including the cities of Sparks, Gardnerville and Virginia City. For Lake Tahoe and Sierra, the storm warning expires at 10 p.m. however a winter storm watch is up due to the next storm.

Check the latest road conditions with Caltrans and NDOT. For Carson City area updates see CarsonWeather.com. The latest road conditions can be obtained by calling 5 1 1.

Additional snow accumulations of 1 to 3 inches, with localized amounts up to 5 inches is expected with this firs storm. Snow plow and sand crews from the Nevada Department of Transportation and Carson City are working the heaviest hit areas. As of around 7 a.m. the Nevada State Police Highway Patrol division reports a few spinouts on I-80 in Reno, I-580 in Carson City and Highway 50 in Dayton. Those traveling to the Sierra can expect long delays.

Another storm system may bring snow to all elevations Wednesday evening into Thursday morning, affecting the Thursday morning commute.

If you must travel this morning, be prepared for long delays especially during commute times. Check with NDOT for the latest chain or snow tire requirements before traveling.

While this current winter storm will continue bringing snow and hazardous travel conditions mainly through this morning, another storm will bring additional snow late Wednesday into Thursday, according to the weather service. There is expected to be a break from the significant storms Friday through the weekend, but an active storm track is likely to return next week, forecasters say.

Go here or see below for the Tuesday morning discussion points from the National Weather Service in Reno.

Tuesday and Wednesday
The first Winter Storm is exiting later today, but next storm is on its way late Wednesday into Thursday, with new Winter Storm Watches being issued this morning.

It took a while but the rain finally changed to snow across the Reno area — at the NWS office near 5000 feet the snow began around 10:30 pm, but it wasn't until after 1:30 AM when the Reno Airport had their changeover. That 3-hour difference showed the slow progress of the cold front when the main storm pivoted with southerly flow lasting through much of Monday, and highlights the challenges of snow amount forecasts across the main cities and foothills of far western Nevada.

The strongest portion of the storm will be with us through the remainder of the morning, with snow decreasing from north to south as the storm slowly makes its exit. Even after the snow tapers down, travel issues and other impacts such as power outages will take a while to clear out, especially in the Sierra where a few feet of snow has accumulated since late Saturday night.

We'll have about one day to dig out of this storm, then the next storm will dig in by mid-late Wednesday afternoon for northeast California, and across the remainder of the region Wednesday evening through Thursday morning. While we aren't expecting blockbuster snow totals, the impacts will be compounded when accounting for the current storm's aftermath.

We will issue Winter Storm Watches for northeast California and the Sierra from Tahoe southward to Mono County, with potential for around 1 foot of additional snow around the Tahoe basin and Northeast California west of US-395, western Mono County, and up to 2 feet in the higher elevations around the Lake Tahoe area.

This storm is colder from start to finish, with a period of snow also spreading across lower elevations producing generally 1-4" of snowfall potential for northwest-far western Nevada, and maybe up to 1" for the US-95 corridor in west central Nevada.

Gusty winds are also likely to precede and accompany this snow, with gusts generally in the 30-40 mph range and potentially stronger for the Sierra foothills and US-395/I-580 corridor, while Sierra ridges can expect gusts around 100 mph. For those who waited and wanted their winter, it is here to stay for a while.

Friday into the weekend
A short-wave upper level ridge will build northeastward into the West Coast, allowing surface high pressure to strengthen over the Great Basin and the Sierra Nevada Friday. Gusty northeast winds are expected along the Sierra crest early Friday, tapering off into the afternoon. Fair skies and slightly colder temperatures are also expected.

Into the weekend, ensemble guidance becomes more progressive with the synoptic pattern than was seen in previous forecasts. The GEFS has come into more alignment with the EC ensemble, showing some flavor of trough passing southeast across the Pacific NW into the northern Intermountain West.

Winds look to increase along ridges late in the afternoon Saturday through the early morning Sunday. Some breezier conditions will also be possible near the Oregon border, especially late Saturday afternoon. There could be a slight chance for light showers across northeast CA and far northwestern NV Sunday as this trough passes by to the north.

Active Pattern Beginning Next Week?
The progressive synoptic pattern looks to continue next week as ensemble clusters are showing signs of troughs possibly impacting the region beginning as early as Monday with another round of widespread precipitation possible. Signals continue to point toward this progressive pattern continuing through next week, which would affect Christmas travel.