NOAA is tracking a cold Gulf of Alaska Storm forecast to hit California as early as Monday next week that could potentially drop 12-24″ of snow on the Sierra Nevada mountains of California including Tahoe & Mammoth. This will be the 4th Gulf of Alaska storm in a row to impact California in the past month.



“The next storm system from the Gulf of Alaska will drop south into NorCal as early as Monday night with cooler temperatures, rain and snow through early Thanksgiving Day. Timing and exact details are still uncertain this far out but it looks like the heaviest precipitation will fall on Tuesday with showers lingering Wednesday and Thursday. This storm could bring the lowest snow levels of the season with heavy accumulations at pass levels and light snow down to 2500 feet. – NOAA Sacramento, CA today

Right now, NOAA is calling for 0.5-2″ of liquid precipitation for the mountains of CA which would translate to 6-24″ of snow above snow line. The heaviest snowfall is forecast to coming down on Tuesday with the lowest snow levels of the season so far (2,500′).

Bryan Allegretto thinks Tahoe’s mountains could see 12-18″ of snow from next week’s storm.

“For the mountains up to a foot of snow could fall above 7000 feet, with up to 18 inches along the crest West of the lake.” – Bryan Allegretto/opensnow.com

We’ve got our fingers crossed for this one. Tahoe’s snowpack is a bit above average right now, but we’re definitely way behind other strong El Nino events like ’82 and ’97.