Lackluster storm a sign of the times

As the first half of March fizzled out in Lake Tahoe, the National Weather Service released a long-range forecast Sunday that provides few opportunities for deep-powder hounds.

A split jet stream veering north may only produce a few more chances of precipitation in the next few weeks.

Rare lightning lit the South Shore skies Thursday, with rain over the weekend totaling a half inch. Tahoe City registered 0.63 inches of rain.

Forecasters predict a 30 percent chance of snow showers today, with another storm that may materialize Wednesday and into Thursday.

"Then, after that, it looks fairly benign. The jet is staying north of us," meteorologist Tom Cylke said. "We've had relatively mild weather and rather dry weather. We could have a pattern change in April, but the climatology tells us it starts to drop off in April."

A weekend storm system pummeled the Pacific Coast, but it weakened by the time it reached the mountains, and divided its strength at the lake's ridge tops.

Tahoe's ridges received winds topping 120 mph Thursday and Saturday nights. Over Daggett Pass at the top of Kingsbury Grade, 1 inch of snow was reported overnight Friday into Saturday. On Thursday, only a trace of snow hit the ground.

"At the lake, you didn't pick up any snow hardly at all," weather service meteorologist Mark Brown said. "The snow level was higher than what we originally planned."

With the exception of the elevations above 8,000 feet picking up about 2 feet of snow, the majority of the moisture moved north and south of the Lake Tahoe Basin. The Feather River basin at Buck's Lake received 4 to 6 inches of snow. Kirkwood Mountain Resort picked up 1 foot. Southern California officials reported flooding, with downtown Los Angeles breaking its 1952 record of 3.3 inches of rain in one day.