How much snow is Sugar Bowl getting?
No snow in the forecast for Sugar Bowl in the next 72 hours. Rain instead: about 0.8 inches, with the snow level at 8,500 ft, above the base area below Donner Summit (6,982 ft). NWS forecast updated Oct 20, 2:00 PM PDT; read .
From the National Weather Service’s gridded forecast for the base area below Donner Summit, read every 30 minutes. Totals are rounded: half inches under 3 inches, whole inches above.
Storm alerts
A notification on this device when chain control starts, changes or lifts, or a road closes or reopens. Pick your roads:
An alert is a heads-up that something changed, not a road report, and it can arrive a few minutes after the change. Before you drive, check Caltrans QuickMap or Nevada 511 (nvroads.com), or call 511. A few alerts a day at most; no account, no email, and you can turn them off here any time (what we keep).
How much snow is Sugar Bowl getting: NWS snowfall at the base below Donner Summit over the next 72 hours, when it falls and how low the snow level comes.
Donner Pass now
No chain controls at Donner Pass (Caltrans). Checked .
The forecast here is for Sugar Bowl's base area on Old Highway 40, just below Donner Summit on the west side. It is one of the closest resorts to the crest and gets the full weight of storms off the Pacific.
The drive is I-80 to the Soda Springs exit and then Old 40 to the resort, so the I-80 chain controls between Kingvale and the summit decide whether you get there. Both are linked below.
The next 72 hours at Sugar Bowl, twelve hours at a time
| Period | Snow | Chance of precipitation | Snow level | Temperature | Wind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | none | 12% | 9,500 ft | 55–57°F | 3 mph, gusts 14 |
| Tuesday night | none | 19% | 9,500 ft | 39–54°F | 3 mph, gusts 9 |
| Wednesday | none | 70% | 9,500 ft | 37–53°F | 3 mph, gusts 14 |
| Wednesday night | none | 90% | 9,000–10,000 ft | 37–48°F | 2 mph, gusts 13 |
| Thursday | none | 84% | 8,500 ft | 36–44°F | 6 mph, gusts 18 |
| Thursday night | none | 71% | 7,500–8,500 ft | 35–43°F | 7 mph, gusts 18 |
Heights to read the snow level against
The working cameras within 15 miles of Sugar Bowl, highest first. Where the snow level is below a camera’s height, the forecast is snow there; above it, rain.
- I-80 at Donner Summit · 7,221 ft
- SR-267 at Brockway Summit · 7,194 ft
- I-80 at Castle Peak · 7,165 ft
- I-80 at Soda Springs - Eastbound · 6,692 ft
- SR-28 at Tahoe City / Dollar Point · 6,528 ft
- I-80 at Donner Lake · 6,394 ft
- SR-89 at Tahoe City / Fairway Dr · 6,286 ft
- SR-89 at Tahoe City / Granlibakken · 6,256 ft
Sugar Bowl, where the forecast is read, and the cameras around it.
Where this forecast comes from
The National Weather Service forecasts on a grid of cells about 2.5 kilometres across, and updates it through the day. This page reads the cell that holds the base area below Donner Summit: Sugar Bowl, issued by the NWS office in Sacramento, a cell whose average height is 6,982 ft. A cell’s average height can sit well below a summit, which is why the snow level is compared with the place itself. The snow total is the sum of the forecast’s own amounts for the next 72 hours; nothing is added to it, and no range is invented around it.
The full NWS forecast, with the forecaster’s discussion, is at forecast.weather.gov for Sugar Bowl. For avalanche danger in the backcountry, read the Sierra Avalanche Center, not a snow total.
More for this trip
- How much snow is Tahoe getting: every pass, resort and town
- Do I need chains on Donner Pass right now?
- Do I need chains to get to Sugar Bowl right now?
- When does Sugar Bowl open? Opening day and lifts
- Sugar Bowl webcams
- I-80 road conditions and cameras
- What to carry for a Sierra winter drive
Snow forecasts for the others: Heavenly · Palisades Tahoe · Northstar · Kirkwood · Sierra-at-Tahoe · Boreal · and Donner Pass · Echo Summit · Mt Rose
Snow forecast: National Weather Service (api.weather.gov), public domain, read every 30 minutes. Not an official NWS product. Chain control: Caltrans and NDOT, read every five minutes. Nevada Explorer is not affiliated with the National Weather Service or with Sugar Bowl. A forecast is not the road: confirm at roads.dot.ca.gov, nvroads.com or 511 before you travel.