Sierra Nevada Storm Drops Heavy Snow Across Tahoe Passes

A Pacific storm pushed into the Sierra Nevada on Friday, November 13, 2026, and the National Weather Service kept winter storm warnings in force for the Greater Lake Tahoe region and Mono County until 10 a.m. Saturday, November 14. It's the first major mountain storm of the season, and it arrived with heavy snow at pass level, strong ridge winds and rain in the valleys below.

The Reno weather service office forecast about 12 inches of heavy, wet snow above 7,000 feet around Lake Tahoe, with totals reaching 20 inches along the Sierra crest west of the lake. The heaviest snow was expected Friday afternoon and evening, roughly between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., which put the worst of it directly across the Friday drive over the passes.

The Sacramento office's warning covered the northern Sierra above 6,000 feet, including Interstate 80 over Donner Pass and U.S. Highway 50 over Echo Summit. Its forecast ran from 6 to 12 inches above 6,000 feet, with up to 24 inches possible on the highest peaks and gusts that made blowing snow a visibility problem on exposed stretches.

State Route 120 through Tioga Pass is closed between Crane Flat and a point west of its junction with U.S. Highway 395 because of snow, a closure that fits the season. High Sierra passes don't run on a fixed calendar, and an early storm with snow levels dropping toward 5,000 feet is exactly the kind of system that ends the through-route season in Yosemite's high country.

Valley cities got the other half of the storm. Reno, Sparks, Carson City and Minden sat under a wind advisory, with southerly valley winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour and Sierra gusts near 60 miles per hour. Rain and a lowering snow line were forecast to bring 1 to 5 inches of accumulation into the foothills overnight.

A separate Hanford office warning covers Sierra areas above 6,000 feet farther south for a longer stretch, running into the early hours of Tuesday, November 17, with totals that could reach about 20 inches and gusts up to 50 miles per hour. The storm isn't one clean band crossing the range. It's a series, and the southern Sierra is in it for longer.

Forecasters expect conditions to ease Saturday morning as the first system moves inland, but the break is short. A second, colder Pacific system is forecast to reach Northern and Central California from Sunday night into Tuesday, bringing more mountain snow and valley rain, with several more inches possible on the passes.

For drivers, the instruction set is the familiar one, and it doesn't change because the totals are early-season. Chain controls, long delays and sudden whiteouts are the operating conditions on Interstate 80 and Highway 50 during the warning window, and the safest trip over the crest this weekend is the one timed for the Saturday lull rather than the Friday peak.