Sierra Storm Will Dump More April Snow, but Won’t Fix California Snowpack

Over the next two days, forecasters expect a cold storm to temporarily reblanket the Sierra Nevada with several feet of snow.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning through 5 p.m. Wednesday for the Northern Sierra above 5,000 feet. While the storm will bring yet another round of April snow after a historically warm, dry March for California, it’s not expected to do much lasting good for the state’s meager snowpack, which sits at 18% of normal for this time of year.

“My guess is if you look at the snowpack analysis on Thursday, this will show up as just a blip on the curve,” said Chris Smallcomb, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Reno office. “It’ll keep things from getting worse, at least for a few days.”

Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, said in his Tuesday YouTube office hours that while it’s not rare for the Sierra to get snow in April, multiple storms this month could make it one of the wettest on record for some parts of the range.

“We might see some record-breaking numbers in some important locations, from Tahoe to Sacramento to San Francisco,” Swain said. “It does help considerably. Has it erased our snow deficit? Nope.”

Smallcomb said the system moving in from the Pacific is more of a “travel impact storm,” especially Tuesday evening and potentially Wednesday morning.

“It’s your garden-variety spring storm that comes down the coast of California that we get in April and even into May sometimes,” Smallcomb said. “This is on the low end of the storm spectrum in terms of intensity, size, snowfall and all that jazz.”

He said the highest peaks could get nearly 2 feet of snow by the time the storm passes on Wednesday.

“Roads will get dicey, snow-covered and hazardous over the Sierra, so definitely keep an eye on the traffic and travel conditions,” Smallcomb said.

Dakari Anderson, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Sacramento office, said the storm isn’t out of character for the season.

Drivers should expect “major travel delays, road closures, and chain controls” and generally avoid mountain travel over the next two days, he said. After that, Anderson said, the mountains should see “lingering showers through the weekend.”