TL;DR
Halloween weekend brings a wet, windy storm to the Sierra Nevada. Our five-day forecast has Dodge Ridge on top with 19 in, followed by Bear Valley at 15 in and Mammoth Mountain at 12 in, with most of it landing on Saturday. A winter weather advisory covers the Tahoe Basin and Mono County until 7 AM Sunday, gusts could reach 47 mph and the freezing level swings between 4,900 and 8,700 ft, so some bases will see rain. A dry spell follows from Monday.
A Halloween storm is moving into the Sierra Nevada, and the freezing level will decide who gets snow and who gets rain.
The National Weather Service in Reno has a winter weather advisory in effect from 8 AM Saturday until 7 AM Sunday for the Tahoe Basin above 7,000 ft (2,134m) and Mono County above 8,000 ft (2,438m). The heaviest snowfall is expected late Saturday night, and the NWS rates the event a 3 out of 5 for risk, which it labels moderate.
Our five-day forecast
Our forecast for California covers Friday 30 October through Tuesday 3 November and ranks 19 resorts. Dodge Ridge leads with 19 in (48cm), and 16 in of that falls on Saturday. Bear Valley is second at 15 in (38cm), with 10 in on Saturday and another 3 in on Sunday.
Mammoth Mountain sits third at 12 in (30cm), and its snow is spread differently: 7 in on Saturday and 5 in on Sunday, so it keeps snowing for longer than the Tahoe side. is forecast 11 in (28cm), almost all of it on Saturday at 10 in. rounds out the top five at 10 in (25cm), with 2 in on Friday, 5 in on Saturday and 2 in on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday are close to dry at all five.
