A Little Somethin'

The ridge of steel has been slowly pushing east across the Great Basin today and will take a temporary hiatus tomorrow as a mature closed low currently over the eastern Pacific pushes northeast into the WA/OR border overnight. As it does so, two small pieces of energy will break southeastward into the Sierra (Figure 1). The first piece will arrive early Wednesday morning and the second during the afternoon. Precipitation will be light on the west slope (0.45"of liquid +/-) and limited amounts east of the Crest (Figure 2). Conditions will cool down with time, but snow levels with remain above 7000 ft with light accumulation possible, particularly above 7500 ft. Over the next 24 hours, we can expected:

Mild and overcast this evening with increasing SW winds (breezy overnight)
Light rain (snow) over Tahoe below (above) 7500 ft by Wednesday morning
Precip will become isolated around mid day with another light pulse in the afternoon
Temperatures cooling through the day on Wednesday
2-5 inches of snow possible above 7500 ft with a few wet snowflakes below
Ridge builds back on Thursday with north winds keeping temps cooler
Rebounding temps on Friday as winds turn easterly
Ridging Friday-Saturday with another mild event possible by Sunday evening

Figure 1 illustrating the synoptic situation over the mid troposphere this afternoon. The departing ridge over the Great Basin with the closed low over the eastern Pacific and the 2 small pieces energy expected to arrive over the Sierra Wednesday.