Marine Weather and Tide Forecast for Kirkwood, CA

DISCUSSION

For today, forecast guidance is depicting a weak upper ridge moving over the region. With this feature aloft,dry conditions persist through today along with little to no cloud cover for most of the day. With the increased sunshine, daytime highs will be slightly higher today compared to those experienced yesterday. NE CA and W NV valleys should be between the upper 50s and the lower 60s while Sierra communities look to be in the lower to middle 50s.

On Wednesday, an upper trough travels through the Western CONUS out of the PacNW which will cause a cold front to move through the area.
Impacts with this upcoming system will include light valley rain, mountain snow showers, and gusty winds with a cold front passage.
The latest run of the REFS shows the precipitation sweeping west to east through the afternoon generally along and north of US-50 with the PoPs increasing getting closer to the OR border. By the late afternoon and into the evening, shower chances will spread south of US-50. Snow levels still look to be around 6-7 kft by Wednesday afternoon, but will drop down quickly to 5-5.5 kft behind the cold front in the evening. The latest QPF totals range between a trace up to around 0.5 inches with the higher amounts seen closer to the OR border. When looking at potential snowfall accumulation, the Sierra Passes around the Tahoe Basin have a 20-40% chance for 2+ inches of snow by Thursday morning while the Sierra crest in Alpine and Northern Mono Counties have around a 10% or less chance of seeing 2+ inches of snow during the same time. Please keep this in mind if planning on traveling through these areas in the middle of the week.

Last but not least, the gusty winds associated with the cold front passage will cause some hazardous conditions during Wednesday afternoon and evening. For the W NV Basin and Range and in Mineral and Southern Lyon Counties, a Wind Advisory remains in effect as west winds gusting up to around 50 mph are to be expected. Sierra ridge winds also look to gust up to around 70 mph. Wind-prone areas such as those along US-395 may also see some increased crosswinds during the afternoon/evening commutes. Please keep these expected winds in mind if you plan to travel in these areas on Wednesday.

With the upper trough traveling out of the region to the east, there does look to be some lingering light snow shower chances (15-30%)
on Thursday morning in the area before they end in the afternoon.
Behind the cold front. daytime high temperatures on Thursday cool to between the upper 40s to lower 50s in W NV valleys while Sierra communities will be between the upper 30s and lower 40s.
Extended guidance then shows temperatures taking on a warming trend going into the weekend. There's also signs of gusty ridge winds on Friday that will be monitored as an enhanced jet may move over the region. All in all, dry conditions look to be on tap through the weekend with portions of W NV currently seeing a 50-80% chance of 70+ degree high temperatures on Monday. =078

AVIATION

VFR conditions are expected at most area TAF sites today with little to no cloud cover. KTRK does see possible fog causing sub-VFR conditions through around 03/18Z. Otherwise, dry conditions and relatively light winds are forecast within the region today. The next weather system is expected by Wednesday which will provide light rain and mountain snow with gusty west to northwest winds with a cold front passage late Wednesday afternoon and evening.
-Fuentes/078

REV Watches/Warnings/Advisories
NV...Wind Advisory from 1 PM to 10 PM PST Wednesday NVZ001-004.

CA...None.