We have not seen that sort of weather forecast for quite some time. The forecast trend has been to a bit less snow, with both NOAA and SnowForecast.com calling for around a foot of snow by Thursday. BA is a bit more optimistic with up to about 20″ near the crest. With the 5 day precip map showing 1.9 inches of moisture at the Sierra Crest, BA may be on track. Even a foot would be twice as big as any other storm in 2013!
Winds may be an issue, with ridge gusts expected to be near 100 mph at times. After things calm on Thursday, expect the ridge to build back in for clear and warmer weather over the weekend.
Nonetheless, we imagine that some people will be ditching work this week and deservedly so. We hear that the snow will be deeper and lighter at Squaw Valley. 😉