Tahoe could see up to an inch of snow this weekend. This file photo shows a view of the fresh snowfall at Palisades Tahoe on Feb. 22, 2022. 

A week after California baked in a record-breaking heat wave, snow has entered the forecast, with a light dusting possible for the Sierra Nevada over the weekend, the National Weather Service said. 

A cold front dropping down from the northern Pacific Ocean is expected to bring rain to coastal areas and valleys, and there's a chance for light snow Sunday night. Weather models disagree on how much moisture the snow will carry into the Sierra and where the storm will be centered. Weather service meteorologist Hannah Chandler-Cooley said that as of Thursday morning, the agency is predicting up to an inch of snow could fall at elevations above 8,000 feet in the Tahoe Basin. 

"The snow chances are pretty limited, mostly just Sunday night, in the nighttime hours when it gets coldest," said Chandler-Cooley, who works in the weather service's Sacramento office. "Rain is mostly what we’re expecting as it’s still warmer. Rain would start Sunday morning and push into Monday and Tuesday." The Tahoe area could record anywhere from 0.75 to 1 inch of rain.

The rain and storm could also help clear out some of the smoke that has smothered the Sierra foothills and Tahoe area ever since the Mosquito Fire ignited on Sept. 6.

RELATED: Up to 1.5 inches of rain possible in wettest parts of SF Bay Area

About 30 miles west of Tahoe as the crow flies, the Mosquito Fire in Placer and El Dorado counties has ballooned to over 63,000 acres and is very unlikely to see any snow as the highest elevations of the fire sit at 5,000 feet. But it's possible that rain could fall over the fire. 

"There is about a 60% chance of maybe a quarter inch of rain. It is a wetting rain," Jonathan Pangburn, a fire behavior analyst for Cal Fire, said at a Wednesday night town hall. "It is enough to help with suppression efforts especially on the fire's eastern end."

To the south of Tahoe, the weather service is forecasting very light snow over Tioga Pass, the eastern entry point for Yosemite National Park on Highway 120. The weather service's Hanford office said the latest weather model runs show about a 45% chance of 0.10 inch of snow over the pass between 5 a.m. Sunday and 5 a.m. Monday and another tenth of an inch between 5 a.m. Monday and 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Amy Graff is the news editor for SFGATE. She was born and raised in the Bay Area and got her start in news at the Daily Californian newspaper at UC Berkeley where she majored in English literature. She has been with SFGATE for more than 10 years. You can email her at agraff@sfgate.com.