NOAA issued a snowfall forecast for parts of California, Oregon and Nevada on November 14 and 15. The Climate Prediction Center’s U.S. Hazards Outlook Map for November 14 through 20, published on November 6, 2026, outlined a pink zone for heavy snow.
The map covers People in Eastern and Northern California, Southern Oregon and Western Nevada. NOAA defines heavy snow as four or more inches in 12 hours or six or more inches within 24 hours, which gives the warning a specific threshold rather than a broad winter outlook.
Climate Prediction Center map
The Climate Prediction Center placed a moderate risk of heavy snow at high elevations across the Klamath Mountains and the Sierra Nevada Mountains on November 14 and 15. It also described a slight risk of heavy snow at high elevations across the Cascades and parts of the Northern Intermountain, Great Basin and Central and Northern Rockies between November 14 and 17.
That spread matters because the hazard is not limited to one ridge line or one state line. The forecast reaches into multiple mountain corridors at the same time, which is the kind of setup that can complicate travel plans and early-season mountain operations.
Klamath Mountains and Sierra Nevada
The forecast may be welcome for people connected to ski resorts in the Klamath Mountains and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. But the map did not outline how many inches of snow could fall, so the practical impact still depends on how close the storm comes to the NOAA threshold.
For readers in the outlined areas, the safest read is simple: the forecast points to a defined hazard window on November 14 and 15, with a broader risk area running through November 17. The next useful check is whether later outlooks keep the same mountain zones in the heavy-snow band or narrow them before the window opens.
