WEDNESDAY 17-NOV-2010, 14:22 UTC (7:22 AM PST)

CalTrans informed me yesterday afternoon, that Tioga Pass is currently OPEN. But as you will see, not for long…

The main weather player right now is a strong ridge of high pressure over the Eastern Pacific. So dry and mild conditions through Thursday. Then the next weather player makes its presence felt as a deepening longwave trough out of the Gulf of Alaska positions itself over the Western USA through the weekend. Thursday and Friday there will be strong winds ahead of the trough in Mono County. The main brunt of the moisture looks to be on Saturday and Sunday for Mono County and a little latter for Inyo County. The Sierra Crest has the potential to receive as much as two feet of new snow in Mono County with lesser amounts in Inyo County. There is the possibility of snow right down to the valley floors with this system. I will fine tune timing and amounts, so please stay alert for updates, particularly if you are going to travel in the Eastern Sierra over the weekend.

Right now it looks like Thanksgiving will be dry.