Snow Friday night into Saturday at Lake Tahoe and Sierra prompts Winter Weather Advisory
Snow expected overnight Friday into Saturday at Lake Tahoe and Sierra has prompted the National Weather Service to issue a Winter Weather Advisory.
Snow accumulations 2 to 6 inches, with up to 12 inches above 7,500 feet elevation, west of Highway 89 is expected. It will be a mix of rain and snow in the Tahoe Basin at the storm onset, changing to mainly snow Saturday, according to the weather service. The advisory is from 10 p.m. Friday night until 4 p.m. Saturday.
"This will greatly limit totals with a dusting up to 2 inches near 6,000 feet elevation," forecasters note.
Winds gusting as high as 70 mph along the Sierra crest with up to 35 mph into the Lake Basin, with wave heights on Lake Tahoe 1 to 3 feet.
Travel will deteriorate Friday night for Sierra passes, with difficult travel throughout the Greater Lake Tahoe region by Saturday morning. Winds could cause damage to any unsecured holiday decorations. Rough waters Friday afternoon into Saturday morning for Lake Tahoe, according to NWS forecasters.
Slow down and use caution while traveling. The latest road conditions can be obtained by calling 5 1 1 or checking NVroads.com or Caltrans.
Precipitation wise, the current forecast calls for 0.75-1.25 of an inch of liquid along the entire Sierra crest, dropping off to between 0.25-0.50 of an inch in the Tahoe Basin. Amounts drop off even further to 0.1-0.25 of an inch along the US-395 corridor in northeast California and in Mono County, and up to 0.1 of an inch for a majority of western Nevada, forecasters note.
Sunday onward, models show a secondary low pressure dropping into southern California on Sunday through Monday. There is a 30 to 40 percent chance of wraparound snow showers on Sunday into early Monday, mostly into Alpine and Mono counties. The most notable aspect of this will be the much cooler temperatures, forecasters said in the latest NWS weather discussion.
New Year's Day looks to be mostly in the low to mid 30s in the greater Reno, Carson City, Minden area with mostly 20s in the Sierra. After Monday, ensembles show an active pattern, but low confidence into the details concerning precipitation, according to the National Weather Service. Check back for updates.