Tag: weather

A Washoe Zephyr has blown in today, whipping the valleys into a fine froth. These are the winds that will blow away tree branches, lawn furniture, small dogs, and anything else that isn't tied down. It will also try to blow you right off the road, so watch for crosswinds while you're driving.

So the weathermen finally got one right, as the storm moved down from the mountains Thursday morning and brought us snow in the valley when the sun came up. It was only a couple of inches, but that's really all we expect here in the rain shadow. And it did give us a White Christmas. Today a high pressure area is moving in to clear things up, and with the exception of possibly another quick storm over the weekend we're looking at sunny skies for the rest of the year.

Supposedly over the next 24 hours we're going to be hit with more snowstorms, just in time for Christmas. As I write this the flakes are starting to fall in Carson City, so there's a chance that this storm won't just be confined to the mountains this time.

We've been dancing with flakes for a few weeks, and even woken up once or twice to a slight dusting on the ground. But last night we got our first real snowfall of the season down in the valleys. Granted, it's a very typical snowfall for our area, just about one inch on the ground. And already the clouds are clearing away, setting the stage for the sun to burst out and melt most of it.

But it's still a significant time, especially when winter seems to be coming later every year and getting shorter each time. With Lake Tahoe's level down, we need to have all the snow we can get to build up our water for next summer. I don't know if this late start is any future indicator, but it doesn't give confidence about the winter to come.

I know it's the oldest joke running, to say that the weather reports are always wrong. "Why'd you bring an umbrella today Bill?" Because the weatherman said it would be sunny! Har har har!"

But sometimes they're just so wrong it has to be mentioned. Come on, this report was from less than 24 hours ago:

A wind and snow storm is expected to leave as much as two inches of snow in the valley and as much at six inches in the mountains, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Chris Jordan in Reno.

Jordan said the first part of today’s storm will drop significant precipitation in the early morning hours, but intermittent snows showers are expected throughout the day.

Let's look outside, shall we?

I know it's all necromancy and educated guessing, but why do they keep telling us we have a "big storm" coming when they always fizzle out to nothing?

Old Man Winter came knocking on our door yesterday. Down here in the valley we only got a light sprinkling of rain, but up in the mountains they got a good old fashioned winter storm. This is evidenced by the glimpse of Jobs Peak this morning, finally covered with a coating of snow again, after being completely naked for several months.

So winter has begun again. This doesn't mean it's cold weather as far as the eye can see. Summer usually has one more blast waiting for us in October, and it's not uncommon to have a mini heat wave come in near the end of the month. But the first snow of the season is always a good indicator that the stifling heat of summer is behind us, and now it's time to get on with the business of winter. Let's hope it's a good one. We can use the water next year.

What's missing from this picture of Stephanie Way?

Oh, that's right. The mountains. The mountains are missing because there's so much smoke in the air. From the National Weather Service:

Smoke has reduced visibilities to between 3 and 5 miles across northeast California and western Nevada this morning. The worst conditions have been observed in the Sierra from Lake Tahoe north into Plumas and Lassen counties...and in western Nevada in the the Reno-Carson City areas.

Monster dust devil in the distance.

We've mostly tamed the desert here in Western Nevada, but sometimes the desert still knows how to fight back. The one weapon mother nature will always have against us is wind, and around here that means dust devils. Big, violent ones. The Record Courier has the story of a house in the Ranchos that was hit by a monster dust devil. It smashed up his chicken coop and threw his back patio into his front yard.

These monster winds have struck our house too. Last October a particularly bad windstorm toppled the wooden playground in our backyard. It weighs hundreds of pounds, but a big gust just knocked it right down.

So we may not live in the land of tornadoes, but we still get our share of angry winds.

Mother Nature's in a funny mood. Here's the little joke she pulled on us tonight, the night before we're scheduled to drive over the Sierra:

A nice meaty March snowstorm. Only about a quarter inch out there, but still. A quarter inch here means five or six at Donner Summit. The lucky thing about March snowstorms is that they melt faster than they fall, so we should be fine tomorrow. Still.

I know that after the last few weeks this is hardly even worth mentioning anymore, but it's snowing in Carson City right now. They're saying it's going to peter out at around 2-5 inches, so we'll have to see what the morning brings.

Update, 11:45am: It did stop at around two inches. Which is all turning to slush as we speak.