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Goodbye, summer. Hello, winter?
Lake Tahoe and the Sierra will get a dose of frigid air this weekend, plunging the mercury by 20 degrees and bringing gusty winds and freezing temperatures beginning tonight.
The weather system may even bring a little snow, said Rudy Cruz, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno.
"The higher peaks might see some light dusting," Cruz said.
Although there is little moisture with this system, the snow levels will reach as low as 6,000 feet, he said.
While cold weather at the end of summer is nothing new for the hardy who make Tahoe their home, snow in the forecast is not what players of the AVP pro volleyball circuit had in mind.
The AVP Best of the Beach volleyball series kicks off today at MontBleu Resort Casino and Spa, with 32 professional players competing for more than $250,000 in prize money.
Volleyball players Suzanne Stone barger and Michelle More, both of Redondo Beach, said they've played in about every kind of weather except for snow.
"It would be a first," said More, 25, a graduate of University of Nevada, Reno, who now lives in Southern California. "We've played in hail, rainstorms, a small little hurricane, but never snow. There's a first time for everything, I guess, so we'll tough it out."
Watching the Weather Channel from her hotel room, Stonebarger, also a UNR graduate, said the forecast calls for a lot of sunshine, which she guessed should offset any snow.
"It's not supposed to stick and it's supposed to be at night, so on the bright side, that's good."
With seven days of summer remaining, the cold front will tempt many into thinking about strapping on their skis and snowboards. At Heavenly Mountain Resort, the cold snap has its staff already already talking.
"Cold weather like this gets us thinking about snowmaking here at Heavenly," said spokesman Russ Pecoraro. "We're expecting to fire up the guns in just seven weeks. The season is right around the corner."
The storm will arrive by way of wind. Gusty winds could cause difficult travel conditions, with blowing dust that could reduce visibility today and Friday, said Cruz.
The winds, which could reach up to 50 mph, could also blow away patio furniture and cause rough conditions on Lake Tahoe, Cruz said.
During strong winds, the U.S. Coast Guard station in Tahoe City often responds to boats run aground or sunk from the strong gusts, said the station's petty officer Michael Faivre.
"The boats get detached from their buoys and get washed up on shore," Faivre said.
If the National Weather Service issues a lake wind advisory, Coast Guard personnel will be broadcasting the warning to boat radios around the lake, he said.
As the cold front pushes in high temperatures will only reach the mid 60s to low 70s, said Cruz. Lows could dip as low as the mid 20s , once the cold air from western Canada settles in, he said.
Although the temperature plunge will feel sudden, September is usually a month of weather change, as summer conditions give way to the unstable weather patterns of fall, said Cruz.
"You usually see, in September, some kind of system that moves in and ends summer abruptly," Cruz said.
Forecasters say although the cold front from Western Canada will give residents a dose of fall or even early winter, warm conditions are likely to fill back in before the true onset of winter.
"We could be back to nice temperatures in October, yet that is hard to tell, exactly. But it doesn't look like winter is coming just yet," said Cruz.
- Sierra Sun staff writer David Bunker contributed to this report
Lake Tahoe and the Sierra will get a dose of frigid air this weekend, plunging the mercury by 20 degrees and bringing gusty winds and freezing temperatures beginning tonight.
The weather system may even bring a little snow, said Rudy Cruz, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno.
"The higher peaks might see some light dusting," Cruz said.
Although there is little moisture with this system, the snow levels will reach as low as 6,000 feet, he said.
While cold weather at the end of summer is nothing new for the hardy who make Tahoe their home, snow in the forecast is not what players of the AVP pro volleyball circuit had in mind.
The AVP Best of the Beach volleyball series kicks off today at MontBleu Resort Casino and Spa, with 32 professional players competing for more than $250,000 in prize money.
Volleyball players Suzanne Stone barger and Michelle More, both of Redondo Beach, said they've played in about every kind of weather except for snow.
"It would be a first," said More, 25, a graduate of University of Nevada, Reno, who now lives in Southern California. "We've played in hail, rainstorms, a small little hurricane, but never snow. There's a first time for everything, I guess, so we'll tough it out."
Watching the Weather Channel from her hotel room, Stonebarger, also a UNR graduate, said the forecast calls for a lot of sunshine, which she guessed should offset any snow.
"It's not supposed to stick and it's supposed to be at night, so on the bright side, that's good."
With seven days of summer remaining, the cold front will tempt many into thinking about strapping on their skis and snowboards. At Heavenly Mountain Resort, the cold snap has its staff already already talking.
"Cold weather like this gets us thinking about snowmaking here at Heavenly," said spokesman Russ Pecoraro. "We're expecting to fire up the guns in just seven weeks. The season is right around the corner."
The storm will arrive by way of wind. Gusty winds could cause difficult travel conditions, with blowing dust that could reduce visibility today and Friday, said Cruz.
The winds, which could reach up to 50 mph, could also blow away patio furniture and cause rough conditions on Lake Tahoe, Cruz said.
During strong winds, the U.S. Coast Guard station in Tahoe City often responds to boats run aground or sunk from the strong gusts, said the station's petty officer Michael Faivre.
"The boats get detached from their buoys and get washed up on shore," Faivre said.
If the National Weather Service issues a lake wind advisory, Coast Guard personnel will be broadcasting the warning to boat radios around the lake, he said.
As the cold front pushes in high temperatures will only reach the mid 60s to low 70s, said Cruz. Lows could dip as low as the mid 20s , once the cold air from western Canada settles in, he said.
Although the temperature plunge will feel sudden, September is usually a month of weather change, as summer conditions give way to the unstable weather patterns of fall, said Cruz.
"You usually see, in September, some kind of system that moves in and ends summer abruptly," Cruz said.
Forecasters say although the cold front from Western Canada will give residents a dose of fall or even early winter, warm conditions are likely to fill back in before the true onset of winter.
"We could be back to nice temperatures in October, yet that is hard to tell, exactly. But it doesn't look like winter is coming just yet," said Cruz.
- Sierra Sun staff writer David Bunker contributed to this report
