SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — People from Truckee to South Lake Tahoe will be gearing up for blustery conditions for trick or treating as Halloween nears.
A cold storm system is set to arrive from the Gulf of Alaska with decent moisture. A Weather Impact Alert was issued for Thursday and Friday in the Sierra for inches of snow at pass level and as much even one to two feet for the peaks and summits.
Could this early precipitation be a sign of a good snow season? As of now, it’s too soon to tell what winter has in store, but, for autumn, it’s a good start so far.
The Central Sierra Snow Lab at Soda Springs, near Donner Pass, is showing only 1.18 inches of snowfall so far this water year, but more snow may push it past the average of 3.15”.
The water year is from Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 30, 2025. The average snowfall total for an entire water year is at 360.24”.
The 2023-2024 water year was above average at 384.28” of snowfall. Prior to that, the 2023 water year was the fifth snowiest on record with 755.8” of snow or 62.8 feet. The snowiest year on record was the 1938 water year with 68.24 feet or 816.24 feet.
Snowfall is set to arrive late Wednesday night through Friday. This two full-day event may lead to as much as nine inches at the passes to as much as 24 inches at the peaks. That would put the Central Sierra Snow Lab at around 12-20 inches at 6,768 feet in elevation. For Nov. 2, the average is 6.3 inches.
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