“It’s going to pack a punch for the snowpack and help us a lot,” said Justin Collins, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Reno office. “Around Lake Tahoe, we could see anywhere from 1 to 2 feet of snow.”
Sara Purdue, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Sacramento Office, said snow levels could drop below 3,000 feet on Tuesday, making travel across mountain highways next week potentially “hazardous.”
“Try to get any traveling done on Saturday at the latest because we’re going to see potentially moderate to heavy snow through Wednesday,” Purdue said.
But the influx of snow could quickly change ski conditions in the Sierra Nevada from wet, spring-like snow to a light, cold, fluffy surface that skiers and snowboarders love.
“Winter is back, and we are fully back in the swing of things,” said Jake Stern, content and communications manager for the Sierra at Tahoe ski resort. “It’s going to be full-on February, Sierra Nevada powder skiing.”
Patrick Lacey, public relations manager for Palisades Tahoe, encouraged anyone traveling for the three-day weekend to monitor the forecast and drive carefully, especially on Monday, when snowfall is expected to increase.
The California Department of Water Resources (from left) Hydrometerologist, Angelique Fabbiani-Leon, and Engineer Jacob Kollen, conduct the second media snow survey of the 2026 season on Jan. 30, 2026, at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada. (Courtesy of Sara Nevis/California Department of Water Resources)
Lacey said all the snow in the forecast is promising for a great rest of the season.
“We’re looking at 53 inches of snow, and this storm cycle continues quite a bit into the future; there’s snow every single day on the 15-day forecast,” Lacey said.
But how long will this cold weather last? Gass, with the weather service, said the wet pattern is in motion for the foreseeable future, “but how long it’s going to last, we’re not really sure.”
Not knowing when the snow will stop isn’t a bad thing for ski resorts.
“Most of our snow in Tahoe typically falls in February and March,” Stern said. “The season is not over. It’s kind of just getting started.”
