Just received this e-mail from “The Tahoe Weather Geek” this morning.  Sounds like some fresh snow is on the way just in time for the holiday weekend!

Tahoe Weather Geek
Forecast summaries for Tahoe residents and Sierra-bound travelers

For weather updates, Tahoe cams and our adventure sports blog, go to www.tahoeloco.com

January 11, 2010

The first big winter storm of the new year is bearing down on California this morning and could bring a foot or more of new snow to the Sierra by Wednesday.

The storm is expected to arrive in two pulses. The first will be Tuesday morning, and the second and stronger wave is forecast for later Tuesday into Wednesday. Snow levels with the first wave will begin at around or above 7000 feet. Levels will drop later Tuesday to below 6000 feet.

The forecast is calling for high winds, with gusts around 100 mph at the Sierra Crest, and about 1.5 inches of precipitation. This won’t be a terribly cold storm, so count on snow to water ratios of about 10 to 1 to 15 to 1. That means 1.5 inches of water would translate into 15 to 20 inches of snow above 7000 feet elevation.

At least one forecast model is showing snow totals of two to three feet through the period, but that model is an outlier at the moment. Let’s hope it turns out to be on the mark and the other computer scenarios are underplaying the storm’s potential.

After some clearing Thursday and Friday it looks like next weekend could also be stormy or at least unsettled, and that could be the pattern for a week or more. The second half of January is definitely going to be wetter than the first half of the month.

See the Weather Geek’s page at www.tahoeloco.com for frequent updates as these storms move in.

As always, if you know someone who might want to receive the Tahoe Weather Geek’s free forecast summaries, please forward them this email. Anyone can subscribe by sending an e-mail to
tahoeweathergeek@gmail.com with “subscribe” in the subject line. Your email address will not be sold or shared for commercial purposes and you will not be spammed.

Jamie Schou