Friday, February 18, 2011

Above Average.......

Northstar picked up another 37 inches in the past 24 hours making that the biggest 24 hour snowfall this season. That brings the 3 day storm total to 2 inches shy of 7 feet on top. It also brings the season to date snowfall to 380 inches breaking the seasonal average of 350 inches. The Village has picked up around 4 feet so far.

Front did just as expected and stalled over Tahoe last night. The band of moisture is weakening this morning so expect the snow to lighten up. Then another wave will rotate inland over Central CA as the low comes down the coast and pulls it Northward this evening over Tahoe. That should bring one more round of heavier snow tonight. Looking for 3-6 inches in the Village today with 4-8 inches on the mountain. Then another 6-9 inches in the Village tonight and 9-12 inches on the mountain.

Snow showers will continue Saturday morning before tapering off in the afternoon. Only expecting a few more inches of accumulation on Saturday. Storm totals for the week on the mountain should be 6-9 feet by the time we clear out tomorrow. That would be enough snow to last us for a while, but there is plenty more on the way.

We should see things dry out for Sunday-Tuesday as the next storm dives down off the coast and misses us. Then on Wednesday the next cold low pressure makes its way down the coast. The trend is over water right now, so the storm should pick up moisture off the ocean and spin in several waves of moisture through Friday. The temps will be really cold so the snow ratios will be high again and we should be measuring in feet.

Then the ridge moves back about 10 degrees in the Pacific next weekend allowing the storms to pick up more moisture. We may see storms almost continuously through the first week of March. I don't see anything in the long range over the next 2 weeks that points to anything other than cold and snow. La Nina is getting her revenge in a big way. BA

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