Old Man Winter isn’t wasting any time: The first winter storm of 2024 will hit the Central Valley and Sierra starting Tuesday evening and continuing through Thursday morning.

The bulk of the storm will be Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, with snow flurries and rain showers continuing Wednesday into Thursday morning, Dan Harty, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford, said Tuesday morning.

The National Weather Service is forecasting that as much as 11 inches of snow could fall at Shaver Lake and 16 inches at Huntington Lake, according to its “probabalistic” snowfall forecast.

Good news for winter sports fans: The Badger Pass Ski Area also could get up to 16 inches of snow.

National Weather Service Snowfall Predictions

Fresno could get as much as 1 inch of rain by Thursday morning, and the foothills could get 1.5 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service forecast.

Winter storms have led to the seasonal closing of trans-Sierra highways, the California Highway Patrol reported. Highway 108 across Sonora Pass and Highway 89 (Monitor Pass) are now closed.

#TravelAlert: Sonora Pass (SR-108) & Monitor Pass (SR-89) are now closed for the season. Plan your routes accordingly & stay safe out there! #RoadClosure #WinterTravel pic.twitter.com/BwHyxAMD1m

— CHP Headquarters (@CHP_HQ) January 2, 2024

Dense Fog in Rural Areas

More moisture means more potential for dense fog advisories, and the National Weather Service issued one for the Valley for Tuesday morning. Once the rain ends Thursday expect the potential for dense fog to return, Harty said.

Whether it’s dense fog, rain, or snow, drivers need to slow down for safety, he said.

Patchy dense fog is more dangerous than widespread fog, because drivers can hit a fog bank at high speed and hit the brakes, which can lead to crashes, Harty said.

“Any kind of a weather hazard, it’s definitely safer to drive slower,” he said.

Watch: Tips for Safe Winter Driving

More Rain, Snow Coming This Weekend

If you haven’t already taken down your Christmas lights, you will have a short window to do so between Thursday morning and Saturday morning when the next storm is forecast to arrive, bringing more rain to the Valley and snow to the Sierra, Harty said.

This one will be coming from the north and will bring colder temperatures, he said.

Tuesday’s high in Fresno is forecast to be 58 degrees, with the highs steadily dropping into the mid- and lower 50s through Sunday. Sunday night’s low could hit 33 degrees.