The Sierra Nevada will likely get 10 feet of snow by the weekend
The Sierra Nevada Snow Powerful Storm During the April 1 Snow Event and When Will Alpine Meadows Close Its Low? A Statistical Analysis of a Tahoe Hydrometeorologist
Todd Cummings decided to drive from Santa Cruz to the Lake Tahoe area ahead of the storm with plans to lay low during the blizzard and then hit the slopes.
The results show that this upcoming month is critical to our water supply outlook for the upcoming year, according to the hydrometeorologist.
Richard Cunningham said he has heard before about forecasts for the storm of the century that didn’t materialize since he moved from Las Vegas to Reno in 1997.
Howie Nave, a radio DJ and stand-up comedian in South Lake Tahoe, said some people may not have been taking the storm seriously earlier in the week because dire forecasts of potentially heavy storms have not materialized several times this winter.
The Sierra Nevada snowpack stood at 80% of average to date but only 70% of the typical April 1 peak, California Department of Water resources officials said Thursday.
California’s water supplies are vital to the state and the storm should give them a shot in the arm, even though this season’s Sierra snow is well below normal.
Alpine Meadows, an affiliate of neighboring Palisades Tahoe, will be closed Friday. Palisades planned to open only its lowest elevation runs, and could end up closing those.
Source: Parts of the Sierra Nevada are likely to get 10 feet of snow by the weekend
Snow, Power Outages, and Highways Shutdown in the Central Sierra Nevada During the Super-Low-Wavelength Pacific Storm
“When a storm comes in, people have a tough time getting there, so there’s sometimes less crowds on the mountains and there is untracked, fresh snow that it’s super light and you float on it. It’s fantastic!” he said.
The California Highway Patrol said it shut down a more-than-50-mile stretch of Interstate 80 at 5 p.m. PT on Friday from the California-Nevada state line west of Reno to a small California reservoir northeast of Sacramento.
The Central Sierra Snow Lab, located at UC-Berkeley, has a current record of about 3.5 feet (1 meter) of snow, according to the lead scientist, Andrew Schwartz. The lab was founded in 1946 in Soda Springs, California.
“This will be a legitimate blizzard,” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said during an online briefing Thursday. It is a very true and severe winter storm that is accompanied by a number of feet of snow, very strong winds, and the potential for power outages and the fact that roads aren’t going to be cleared as quickly or as effectively as they normally would be.
The National Weather Service in Reno said on social media that the safe travel window is over in the Sierra. It’s best to remain where you are.
An enormous Pacific storm is forecast to bring a foot of snow or more to the Sierra Nevada by the weekend, forcing at least one ski resort to close on Friday.
Major highways in the region will be closed and power will be lost on Friday afternoon and Saturday due to the storm. A blizzard warning through Sunday morning covers a 300-mile (482-kilometer) stretch from north of Lake Tahoe to south of Yosemite National Park.
The storm system, which began to pummel the region on Thursday, brought wind gusts of up to 150 mph at the highest peaks of the Sierra. The NWS issued a high wind warning for the area on Saturday with gusts of up to 75 mph.
The Reno forecast office also issued a backcountry avalanche warning through 5 p.m. on Sunday for the Central Sierra slopes, and advised against travel there.
