Warmer Weather Then Arctic Blast...

The South end of the lake picked up snow on the Northern edge of the system Sunday. We saw a total of 5 inches on the mountain here at Sierra. We will warm up today and tomorrow as the ridge builds in ahead of the cold front on Wednesday. With the sun out and temperatures in the 40's tomorrow it will feel quite warm.

Then the clouds will increase on Wednesday and so will the winds as the front approaches. A few flakes could begin to fly as early as late afternoon on Wednesday, but most of the snow will fall Wednesday night into Thursday morning with the passage of the front. There is a lot of cold air coming with the front and the temperatures are going to fall fast Wednesday night. The moisture is limited with this front but the cold air will help to inflate the snow totals.

Right now it looks like we could see 3-5 inches at the base and 5-10 inches on the mountain. This will be very light fluffy snow. There will be a lot of cold air pouring into the West through the weekend and into early next week. Temperatures will be in the low 20's for highs into the weekend and we should see temperatures stay below freezing at the base into next week.

The cold will continue to pour into the country over the next couple of weeks. It won't be as cold along the West Coast but should stay below average. The ridge will build just off the coast next week keeping us in a continued dry pattern. After that the pattern is expected to shift. Some of the forecast models are showing a train of storms lined up off the coast by the 20th. Others do show retrogression of the ridge to South of the Aluetian islands which can be a key spot for undercutting of the jet into the West Coast. So there is a chance we see a return of bigger storms after the 20th. BA