Hazardous travel expected through Sierra during Thanksgiving weekend

A trio of storms on their way into the Sierra could make for hazardous travel off-and-on into the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, with several inches of snow expected around Lake Tahoe and a mix of snow and mostly rain in the Reno area.

The first of the storms was expected to arrive Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. As much as 8 inches of snow is possible in the mountains above Lake Tahoe and up to 5 inches at lake level by Wednesday.

Forecasters say Thanksgiving Day itself may be the best day for travel with sunny skies and mild conditions.

The second storm is expected to move into the Sierra late Friday, and another one is possible as a colder system arrives on Sunday.

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory through Wednesday morning for the Lake Tahoe area, including Stateline and Incline Village in Nevada and Truckee and South Lake Tahoe, California.

“It’s a weak to moderate winter storm, but it’s definitely going to cause heavy traffic delays,” service meteorologist Scott McGuire told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

The series of storms will make their way across the state from west to east as the week progresses, and could slow travel in parts of north-central and northeast Nevada as well on U.S. Interstate 80 and U.S. Highways 95, 93, 50 and 6, the service said.

“While none of these will be powerful or have much in the way of snow accumulation, they produce small amounts of snow, often very slushy,” the weather service said Tuesday in a statement out of Elko. “Being prepared for snowy travel is a good idea. Having a ‘Plan B’ just in case is smart.”

The system is tracking further north than originally expected, so it should not affect southern Nevada, including the greater Las Vegas area, the service said.

“A generally dry weather pattern with near average temperatures can be expected across the Mojave Desert and southern Great Basin this week,” the service said in Las Vegas.