Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Reno, NV
Issued by NWS Reno, NV
989 FXUS65 KREV 142142 AFDREV Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Reno NV 142 PM PST Fri Nov 14 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... * After a lull in the precipitation tonight, periods of rain and mountain snow return this weekend, mainly Saturday evening into Sunday. * A colder storm arrives Monday, with potential for additional rain and snow, breezy winds, and colder temperatures. * Cool and unsettled weather conditions continue through next week with another chance of rain and snow later in the week. && .DISCUSSION... Bands of rain showers continue to push northward across the eastern Sierra and western NV this afternoon, with snow levels generally in the 8500-9500 foot range. Snowfall in the Sierra has been limited and with little additional accumulations expected, we have cancelled the Winter Storm Warning a few hours early for Mono County, and let the Winter Weather Advisory expire for Tahoe. These lingering shower bands will diminish by this evening, but the next round of precip rotating around the main low off the southern CA coast could reach Mono-Mineral counties as soon as late tonight, with better chances spreading northward across areas south of US-50 through Saturday morning. High resolution guidance then shows varied timing with further northward expansion, as some scenarios spread a swath of lighter rain past I-80 on Saturday afternoon, but others hold off until Saturday evening. Overall the best chances (70% and above) for wetting rainfall favor late Saturday evening/overnight through Sunday morning, with 0.20-0.50" totals common across most lower elevations, and locally higher amounts up to 1" near the Sierra crest and in areas where heavier rain bands persist. Snow levels will start quite high on Saturday, near or above 9000 feet, but then drop to near 6500-7000 feet by Sunday night as the cold core of the upper low finally moves inland across southern CA and ejects across central NV. Winter travel impacts should remain largely confined to the highest Sierra passes above 8000 feet through late Saturday night with snow accumulations of 2-6", but additional snow amounts up to 3" could settle down to near 7000 feet by early Sunday morning, leading to slick travel conditions on more heavily traveled passes including Donner and Echo summits. Cool unsettled conditions will persist through the remainder of Sunday, with yet another storm fast approaching for Sunday night- Monday. This system is likely to be cooler with potential for snow levels dropping to near 6000 feet, but the track remains variable among the ensemble guidance, with some scenarios also pinching this system farther south and shifting the higher precip chances to Mono County and southern CA. We could see a break in storm activity around the Tuesday-Wednesday time frame but chances for more precip increase again around Thursday, but confidence is lower with this late week storm potential. Temperatures have more certainty of remaining below average for the bulk of next week, with highs mainly in the lower 50s for western NV valleys and 40s for eastern CA and Sierra communities. MJD && .AVIATION... Bands of light rain showers will linger through late afternoon with periods of terrain obscurations, along with patches of lower MVFR ceilings due to residual moisture after yesterday`s rain. We`ll catch a short period of clearing this evening from US-50 northward which could lead to patchy fog around KTRK, before thicker cloud cover overspreads all the main terminals from south to north overnight. KMMH has the highest potential (70% or higher chances) for longer periods of MVFR and intermittent IFR conditions after 08Z tonight through much of Saturday with bands of rain. For the other main terminals, potential for MVFR conditions increases during the day Saturday (20-40% chance) and especially Saturday night (50-80% chance) as a larger area of rain moves through. Surface winds are expected to remain light with gusts below 20 kt at the main terminals through Sunday morning, followed by an increase in southwest breezes Sunday afternoon. Ridge top wind gusts up to 35 kt from the east are expected on Saturday, then shift to southwest early Sunday morning and increase with gusts to 45 kt through the day, leading to areas of mountain wave turbulence. MJD && .REV Watches/Warnings/Advisories... NV...None. CA...None. && $$