Grazing storm for tonight, tomorrow briefly interrupts warm and sunny weather
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
The storm that brought two feet of snow to the Sierra Nevada mountains yesterday is on our doorstep. Clouds are increasing and there may be some showers late this afternoon ahead of the main push of cool air expected around late this evening or midnight. Snows should increase around then and last through the morning, with the heaviest snows staying just north of our area where the atmosphere is the most unstable and upward forcing is strongest. I would expect 1-4” for the morning report with maybe another inch or two during the morning hours.
Non-accumulating showers will likely continue through the afternoon before drier air filters into the region. Additional weaker grazing waves will pass well north of us on Friday morning and each of the weekend mornings, but warming temperatures and sun should overcome the slight cooling from these waves giving us some beautiful weather for closing weekend.
Another storm crossing the Baja peninsula around mid-weekend will eventually pass south of us by late Monday and bring significant precipitation to the Colorado plains and possibly the southern mountains, likely leaving us with dry weather. Concurrently, a major storm is forecast to cross the west coast around Monday, and there is a lot of model uncertainty with the evolution of this storm. While is is nearly certain that California and the western Great Basin will receive significant precipitation, our forecast is considerably murkier for next week.
