how to read weather reports for snow?rain and determin if it's good condition?

I have few question about the following 5 day forcast for tahoe
and reading weather reports to determine snow conditions in general.

today Mostly Clear High: 56=B0 Low: 33=B0
tomorrow Partly Cloudy High: 58=B0Low: 34=B0
thurs Rain/Snow High: 44=B0 Low: 23=B0
fri Rain/Snow Showers High: 40=B0 Low: 21=B0
sat Few Snow Showers High: 43=B0 Low: 24=B0

1) today & tomorrow has highs of 56 & 58. does that mean all the snow
on the surface will turn to slush/ice. high school science says
frezzing point is ~32C right? would grooming fix this?

2) thrus , fri is RAIN/SNOW , what does that mean?
will it rain sometimes and snow sometimes depending if temperature is
high/low?
OR
is it raining at low elevation and snowing at high elevation?

3) by this forcast, will it be decent on Saturday or is it all slushy?

thanks in advance

"Squirrel123" wrote in news:1112740135.265658.309330
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

1) today & tomorrow has highs of 56 & 58. does that mean all the snow
on the surface will turn to slush/ice. high school science says

It will get progressively softer as the day goes on, and is partly
dependent upon how much sun hits that particular run. You can knock
off a few degrees for conditions at the summit. So it will probably
be just below freezing at night and lo 50s day. The snow surface will
be progressively large corn as you get closer to the base.

2) thrus , fri is RAIN/SNOW , what does that mean?
is it raining at low elevation and snowing at high elevation?

most likely this. Less likely this time of year is an inversion
where it rains at higher and snows at lower.


3) by this forcast, will it be decent on Saturday or is it all slushy?

Depends how much is rain, how cold it is, how much wind there is after.
There is a difference between corn snow and just water logged snow which is
more like soup. Drainage is also a big factor. Steeper sections will
recover sooner.

This time of year watch the overnight temps. It hasn't gotten below
freezing since the last snowfall so its really sticky. It's not going
to be good till overnight temps drop intot the low 20's. Next weekend
will be good..

For temps use the NOAA historical data and don't trust the resorts.

so low 20s are good.
and wind can make the 50s and rain/snow okay.

og,
I get the temps from yahoo, is that the same as NOAA?
also, why would next weekend be good?
there'll be a couple days with high in the 50s
and no new snow.
thanks.

og wrote:
This time of year watch the overnight temps. It hasn't gotten below
freezing since the last snowfall so its really sticky. It's not
going
to be good till overnight temps drop intot the low 20's. Next
weekend
will be good..

For temps use the NOAA historical data and don't trust the resorts.

The long term forecast is for clear and cold temps at night next
weekend. The daytime highs are not as important as nightime lows
because the low temps determine how the snow sets up and turns to corn;
you won't stick too bad in corn snow. You can see that yesterday night
was very warm..

Here's an hourly history of temps at Squaw High Camp:

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/rev/remotedata/sqwhic.php

Squirrel123 wrote:
so low 20s are good.
and wind can make the 50s and rain/snow okay.

og,
I get the temps from yahoo, is that the same as NOAA?
also, why would next weekend be good?
there'll be a couple days with high in the 50s
and no new snow.
thanks.

og wrote:
This time of year watch the overnight temps. It hasn't gotten
below
freezing since the last snowfall so its really sticky. It's not
going
to be good till overnight temps drop intot the low 20's. Next
weekend
will be good..

For temps use the NOAA historical data and don't trust the resorts.

og,
yes, I see from your link that it was warm at night

I tried to look for long term forecast.
I got to 7day forcast for Truckee, CA with
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/forecas...7&city=Truckee

can you give me a link for the "long term forecast with clear cold
temps .. next weekend" so I can use it in the future.

thanks again.