What qualifies as a Winter Storm Warning? When a storm is forecasted to dump 6+ inches within a 12 hour period. That’s what we are looking at in Lake Tahoe this first week of October.
These guys are not gonna be ready for the snow yet. photo: ray yeager / solent
This storm is looking strong and somewhat pissed off. It has some of the characteristics of a standard mid-winter Gulf of Alaska storm and it’s gonna hit us like one. This will be the first cold storm of the season in Lake Tahoe and I think it has a lot of people fired up.
TahoeWeatherDiscussion.com is forecasting even a bit more than noaa saying there could be 12-18” above 8,000 feet.
From NOAA.gov: *Updated* at 3:15pm Oct. 3rd, 2011
...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 PM THIS EVENING TO 2 PM PDT WEDNESDAY ABOVE 7000 FEET... * TIMING: HEAVIEST MOUNTAIN SNOW LATE TONIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING...WITH SNOW SHOWERS CONTINUING INTO WEDNESDAY EVENING. * SNOW ACCUMULATIONS: 6 TO 12 INCHES ABOVE 7000 FEET...WITH A UP TO 3 INCHES BELOW 7000 FEET. * WINDS: SOUTHWEST WINDS 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 45 MPH BELOW RIDGES. RIDGE GUSTS NEAR 100 MPH TONIGHT AND EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING. * SNOW LEVELS: 7500 TO 8500 FEET FALLING BELOW LAKE LEVEL BY LATE WEDNESDAY MORNING.
Our boy Backcountry Brennan will certainly be out there skiing once this storm rolls thru, so be ready for the first Lake Tahoe ski report of the season later this week.
If you haven’t checked out our weather page, you need to, it’s got every forecast and weather map imaginable: Squaw Weather Forecast.
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