Champagne.........

You may not believe it looking out your window but it snowed at the ski resorts yesterday.  Northstar picked up 3 inches with a bit of shadowing occurring from the crest.  That will not be a problem today.

Already a whiteout this morning on Donner Summit. Snow will begin on the mountain by mid-morning. This is going to be the coldest storm we have seen in a long time. Temperatures at 8500 ft. have already dipped to 15 degrees and the mid 20's at lake level. That means snow ratios of 15:1 at lake level with this storm and up to 25:1 on top of the mountain. This morning's models show around an inch of liquid with this storm. Not a huge amount, but with the abnormally cold air already in place and high snow ratios we could see some high totals.

Still thinking 10-15 inches additional in the Village with 15-20 inches above 7000 ft, and up to 2 feet above 8000 ft. with the really high snow ratios. This will be amazingly dry powder. That would put snow totals on top at a solid 2 ft+ by tomorrow.

Cut-off looks to be the word for the Saturday storm. As you know with cut-offs it is pretty much impossible to know exactly where they will go. We could see a decent amount of snow on the North end of the storm Saturday as it passes to our South, or see not much if it is a bit further South. This is one of those storms that we will just have to watch over the next few days.

Same thinking next week as the Pacific NW takes the brunt of the storms and we get some light snowfalls on the Southern side. Still looking at the possibility of the jet coming under a developing ridge along the West coast for week 3 El Nino style. The NAO will be headed negative and blocking will be forming over the East again. The MJO is forecast to strengthen in the Western Pacific which may help this scenario take shape. Stay tuned........BA