Our weather can change rather quickly around here, especially in the Sierra. One minute the sun can be out and the next it’s snowing like crazy and the visibility is extremely low.
Convective snow showers are a lot like thunderstorms during the summer where they might last for twenty minutes but can also be very powerful and produce a lot of snow. A neat way to describe this is with balloons. Instead of having a huge area of snow that encompasses everyone, you have individual cells that pops up throughout the area. The individual cells are the balloons. The bigger the balloon the stronger the snow shower and the longer it lasts.Â
What does this mean for travel? A lot. When showers are convective this means that it might be sunny and quiet one moment and terrible with whiteout conditions the next. This can also cause a wide variety of snow totals. While you might get an inch where you live, ten minutes down the road you might have eight inches. Lake effect snow is also enhanced by convective weather patterns. In order to be convective there has to be a layer of cold air above warmer air, because warm air rises.Â
So when you plan on traveling during convective patterns it would be best to bring chains and other winter supplies just in case, because the snow will be more sporadic than steady. Of course you can always get the forecast here on 2 News, but with travel in the Sierra, minutes matter. So luckily we have an app for you. Our KTVN Weather App has an hour by hour function you can use as well as radar to help plan your day.Â
Going forward it looks like we have a chance for snow in the Sierra through Thursday with a break coming Friday afternoon and Saturday.Â
