There will be snow in the Sierra in November

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...GCSLV9HC14.DTL


Said Martin: "The storm door is not yet open, but it's budging. In the first few weeks of November, we'll start seeing winter again."

Martin, an avid surfer as well as a longtime skier and snowboarder, bases that forecast on the waves at his favorite surfing haunts.

"At the end of this week, we're expecting 15- to 20-foot swells," he said. "And that's a good indication that a lot of energy is being generated in the Gulf of Alaska. ... And that's telling me that things are very active in the North Pacific. ... Big swells early (in the season) usually mean early rain."

Martin also said the jet stream, that river of moving air that circles the globe, has been bouncing up and down North America, giving us "very fluid weather patterns." It also means that the dome of high pressure above the western United States, which typically sits above us all summer, is not all that big and can be easily shoved aside by systems coming out of the storm crucible that is the Gulf of Alaska.

"When things are moving early," he said, the winter season "is going to start off early. ... There will be snow in the mountains in November."

And thanks to the weak El Niño, there will be storms at periodic intervals for most of the season, regularly freshening the Sierra snowpack well into 2007.

When a potent "El Niño sets up, we get a big influx of moisture and higher temperatures; there's not a big disparity between warm air and cold air, and we get what is referred to as a Pineapple Express. It's a constant stream of water," Martin said. "But this year there will be more fluctuation in the system that will lead to a more dynamic pattern. ... There's nothing to indicate it will be crazy wet this year."

When that door opens, and the storms come in, could you have thet receptionist direct them down the hall to Utah's office, 2nd door on the right, just past the water fountain.