A winter storm headed for the Sierra late Wednesday could drop as much as a foot of snow on mountain tops around Lake Tahoe and bring a few inches to Reno and surrounding valleys by Thursday. 

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for the Sierra and most of its eastern front effective from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 4 p.m. Thursday. 

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People are seen skiing and snowboarding on a mountain near Lake Tahoe in North California.

People ski and snowboard on a mountain near Lake Tahoe in North California. (Michael Ho Wai Lee/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Two to 7 inches of snow are expected around Tahoe, up to 12 inches in elevations above 7,000 feet where winds are forecast to gust up to 60 mph, the service said Wednesday. 

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Snow covers the Sierra Nevada mountains and the shoreline of Lake Tahoe on Monday, Jan. 30, 2017, as seen from Memorial Point, Nevada.

Snow covers the Sierra Nevada mountains and the shoreline of Lake Tahoe on Monday, Jan. 30, 2017, as seen from Memorial Point, Nevada.   (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group (Photo by MediaNews Group/Bay Area News via Getty Images))

Up to 6 inches of snow is expected in the foothills around Reno above 5,000 feet, and about an inch on the valley floor, it said.