0700 temp. at 6350’ in Carnelian Bay: 15.8 deg. & 92% RH

3.75” new snow.

1000 temp. at 8650′ Tamarack TH: 17 deg.

Backcountry obs:

The backcountry is back in prime shape today. 6-8″ of cold, right side up snow rests above the old crusts. From mid morning through early afternoon, a mix of sunshine and clouds rolled over the mountains with barely a breath of wind. By 1pm, light flurries had turned into bursts of graupel and snow, limiting visibility during peak snowfall periods. Very little, if any, wind affect was noted on the snow surface.

The skiing is superb. Enough new snow has fallen recently to erase nearly all evidence of previous crusts. Skin tracks hold on traversing slopes and turns are soft, fast and oh so fun.

Other than small sluffs in steeper terrain, no instabilities were noted. The current cold surface snow may become a weak layer if the new snow coming in this evening is of greater density. That said, the dynamic nature of the coming storm will likely produce snow of varying densities throughout the event promoting storm slab development. Heads up if heading out for storm skiing tomorrow.

Weather and forecast thoughts:

Convective showers dropped a few inches of cold snow last afternoon and evening at lake level. Today dawned with partly cloudy skies and some heavy looking low level clouds. The atmosphere feels primed for a stahwm!

Today is the last day of calm weather before the storm moves in tonight. Highs today will be struggle to get to freezing around the lake, with teens and twenties in the backcountry. A mix of clouds and sun, trending more towards clouds as the day progresses will keep any fresh snow soft and delightful for backcountry revelers. A few stray snow showers or can’t be ruled out for the rest of the afternoon, but the main action won’t get going until well after dark tonight.

Models today continue to trend upward in snow totals with NWS Reno showing (80-90% chance of 3′ at pass level and 90% chance of 1.5-2′ at lake level. Timing of the heaviest snowfall has also come forward with heavy snow starting tonight during the wee hours and continuing through tomorrow before snowfall rates ease a bit for Sun. evening. Snow will continue falling through Mon. and into Mon. night.

A more showery regime sets up for Tues. before another quicker and weaker storm could impact the area on Weds.-Thurs. Temps for the next week will remain cold with highs barely reaching freezing at lake level through the end of the week. Needless to say, that means snow continues to pile up for all backcountry zones at all elevations. Hopefully some lower elevations zones will finally come into play.

Looking beyond this week, models show the storm door remaining open, so additional storms may line up. The snow gravy train is rolling in. Get it!