Weather system should hit Saturday, Monday

The National Weather Service has cut in the half the amount of snow forecast for higher elevations over the next few days, but there is still a chance of snow in Carson City.

The 5 to 7 feet of snow at higher altitudes forecast by the Weather Service Wednesday was a little overzealous, according to Larry Brown, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno.

"Right now I'd say it'll probably be more like 2 to 3 feet."

Still, weather should get pretty nasty over the next few days. Carson City was dampened by early morning rain and late afternoon sprinkles Friday.

"It looks like a pretty active pattern for the next four days or so," said Brown.

The weather system is expected to hit hardest from Saturday into Sunday morning, with a break on Sunday, Brown said.

"Then there'll be sort of another round on Monday during the day," he said.

After that lingering snow showers are expected for a couple days.

It should be cold enough to drop snow levels down to the level of Lake Tahoe with this system, as opposed to the November storm, which dropped only rain on the lake.

But it won't be the first of the white stuff to stick around the basin.

Pam Bricker up at the Tramway Market on the top of Kingsbury Grade said she found 2 to 3 inches of snow there when she showed up for work Friday morning.

"It's snowing off and on now," she said Friday afternoon from the market at 235 Tramway Drive.

Weather forecasts for the area are usually pretty accurate, she said, but not this time. "We weren't supposed to get anything last night, but we did. We'll see what happens."

Meanwhile, a strip of red on the National Weather Service Internet map of the area runs north from Redding almost as far as Yosemite National Park. The red means "winter-storm warning."

An animated radar movie on the site shows the system intensifying as it approaches the Lake Tahoe area.

A testament to the coming weather, winds gusting up to 65 mph on Heavenly's slopes have several lifts and the new gondola on wind watch.

Still, it's hard to say what exactly the system means for Carson City.

"Maybe Saturday night into Sunday there could be a little bit of snow in Carson," said Brown. "But there's probably not a real good shot of much accumulation. It'll be cold enough on Tuesday for snow, but by then the real storm should be over."

INFORMATION

For highway conditions, call (877) 687-6237 or go online at: www.nvroads.com

or, on the radio, in Carson City tune into to 1610-AM or in Reno or Lake Tahoe, tune in to 530-AM. Nation Weather Service on the net: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/Reno/