© Kate AbrahamPalisades Tahoe, CA
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning through Tuesday night at 10 p.m. Drivers should expect major travel delays, chain control, icy roads and whiteout conditions. Palisades Tahoe Ski Resort is reporting 95 mph wind gusts at the crest of the Sierra Nevada.
The National Weather Service reported up to two feet of snow from the storm earlier this morning. Another 2 to 5 feet of snow is on the way, with the heaviest snowfall coming tonight.
"It's going to crank up," said Bryan Allegretto, Tahoe forecaster for Open Snow. "We have that cold front approaching. It's just off the coast this morning. That will really pull in a lot more moisture today, and it should drop freezing levels about 500 feet. It hasn't dropped yet. Keep watching."
The Tahoe region woke up Monday morning to the first wave of snow from the atmospheric river that's aimed at California this week. But this first front came in warm, and snow levels varied greatly across elevations.
© Kate AbrahamPalisades Tahoe, CA
The higher the elevation, the more snow has fallen.
At the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory, which is located on Donner Summit, researcher Andrew Schwartz measured 18.7 inches of snow that fell in the previous 24 hours. The 48-hour snow count at the snow lab is nearly two feet — and heavy snow is still dropping.
That kind of variance between rain and snow is common for atmospheric rivers, Allegretto told SFGATE. Weather models pinpoint the elevation that marks the freezing level, when temperatures will hit 32 degrees Fahrenheit. But snow levels can vary within 1,500 feet of the freezing level, Allegretto said. In massive storms like the one that's currently pushing across California, the amount of snow that falls in the highest peaks will always be significantly more snow than down by Lake Tahoe.
But change is coming. Temperatures are forecast to get much colder later today and for the rest of the week, Allegretto said, which translates to more snow — a lot more snow.
The cold front should arrive in the Sierra later today or tonight, Allegretto said. With that blast of cold air, snow will start falling harder.
"That's when we get 2 to 4 inches per hour, with snow levels dropping below 3,000 feet tomorrow morning," Allegretto said. "You're almost doubling the amount of snow per inch of liquid overnight. So not only will it start snowing at lake level, but it will accumulate twice as fast."
Allegretto is calling for another 3 to 5 feet of snow to fall at high elevations in the mountains by Wednesday morning — twice as much snow as the amount that fell last night.
At the highest elevations, above 9,000 feet, Allegretto puts the upper end of his forecast for the entire storm at 96 inches by Wednesday morning, or some 8 feet of snow. However, Allegretto noted that even the highest measurements at ski resorts don't account for snowfall at 9,000 feet. The highest elevation ski resorts measure snowfall is at 8,300 feet, or lower. So confirming how much snow fell at that high of an elevation is difficult, if not impossible.
Regardless, Mother Nature has delivered a gift to the Tahoe region, just in time for the holidays. Earlier this month, Tahoe was experiencing warm temperatures and high inversions, with bare ground showing on the mountains.
Now, ski resorts are scrambling to open their lifts and more terrain this week.
Palisades Ski Resort is currently running two beginner lifts near the parking lot, but it is aiming to open more terrain on the mountain as soon as Thursday, said Alex Spychalsky, spokesperson for the ski resort.
More storms are on their way later this week, Allegretto said. And the storm door is going to stay open through next week, right up until Christmas.
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