MONDAY: Running out of weather icons (including sun at times) for the weather through Tuesday night. The next two days will be breezy and cool with a mix of sun at times and showers. The air aloft will get progressively colder, giving us a better chance for isolated thunder and hail-producing cells at times into Tuesday. Snow levels will also drop to nearly 3,500′ to 4,000 feet locally, so one more dusting of snow on the higher peaks will be possible. Rain totals should be in the 0.50″ to 1.00″ range in the North Bay on Monday with less south, especially near San Jose / Tri-Valley. The larger story will be the big snow totals, likely for the Sierras, through Tuesday night. It’s now looking like we’ll be in the 3-4 ft. range for elevations 5,000′ up and probably 6″-12″ even as low as 3,000′-4,000 feet. How does one get 3-4 feet of snow… in April? A lucky combo of cold air support and nearly non-stop WSW wind sending moisture over the West Slope of the Sierra is also known as an orographic or mountain-boosted lift, with ample moisture and cold air = a Sierra snow machine. This is also great news, we’ll top off our larger reservoirs and give the Sierra snowpack yet another boost very likely to > 100% of average by Wednesday for locations Hwy 50 north, might still be lagging a bit for areas south to Yosemite, but we’ll get good gains there too. Yes, the CA DWR snow survey at Echo Summit was slightly below average last week, but we’ll more than make up for it if these totals hold for the next 3 days. This will be the first “threepeat” for the Sierra snowpack for consecutive years of average to above average snowpack since 2006. Plus, the state’s largest reservoirs are currently sitting at 84%+ of capacity > 100% of their historical averages ahead of the Spring/early Summer snowmelt. We’re thankfully in a great position for water resources approaching mid-spring and into Summer. ...read more read less