Halloween Storm With Inches of Snow and 50 MPH Gusts Heads to California

This year, Halloween may be more than spooky.

In California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, the coming weekend looks wet, with significant snowfall possible at the region’s ski resorts and winds gusting up to 50 miles per hour. 

The National Weather Service Reno suggested delaying or re-evaluating travel plans throughout the Sierra, noting that snowfall is expected to be the most intense late Saturday night. Slick roads, closures, and travel delays are possible. Winter weather advisories apply until 7 a.m. Sunday morning.

The NWS also announced Thursday morning that forecasted snow totals for the storm had increased. Still, freezing levels seem a bit fuzzy.

In the Tahoe Basin, a winter weather advisory applies to elevations above 7,000 feet. In Mammoth Mountain’s home, Mono County, the advisory applies to elevations above 8,000 feet. 

The advisory that applies to one ski hotspot around Lake Tahoe, Palisades Tahoe, cautioned that two to five inches are possible, with nine inches on the highest peaks. 

Palisades Tahoe’s base area sits at 6,200 feet, but the resort’s upper reaches crest 9,000 feet. The slopes of Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe—home to Lake Tahoe’s highest base elevation—start at 8,260 feet.

The Mono County advisory calls for up to 12 inches at the highest elevations, with lower elevations slated for between three and six inches.

In other words, this could be a classic rain at the base, snow at the summit situation, depending on the resort. A previous Wednesday report from the NWS said that snowfall and rainfall totals remained uncertain because “snow levels keep fluctuating with each model run.”

Despite the prospective stoke, ski resort opening dates largely remain weeks away across California. 

Still, some precipitation could help those with more aggressive timelines. Mt. Rose is shooting for November 6 and, per its webcams, appears to already have a strong start on snowmaking. The natural stuff would certainly wouldn’t hurt, though.

Further south, Mammoth Mountain plans to open on November 13. 

In the meantime, that leaves one thing to do: think cold. Hopefully, all the Sierra folks have a white Halloween ahead, followed by some skiing next week.

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