Gusty walls of wind and dust move into Carson City
UPDATE: NV Energy reports 621 customers are without power after winds caused damage to power lines. Spokeswoman Faye Anderson said she hopes to narrow down the affected areas soon. Readers report the outage continues as of around 5 p.m. around the northwest side of town.
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UPDATE: National Weather Service meteorologist Zach Tolby said Carson City experienced a "gust front" shortly after 4 this afternoon, bringing strong winds and kicking up walls of dust in town. Much of the front has moved out of the area and, as of 4:30 p.m., was south of Reno.
"The leading edge has past. There is a chance for a quick thunderstorm for Carson City as systems are developing on the north and east sides of Lake Tahoe," said Tolby.
According to CarsonWeather.com, a wind gust of 44 mph blew through Carson City at 4:11 p.m. Winds as of 4:40 p.m. are averaging about 23 mph from the South South East gusting to 38 mph.
A power outage was reported in the area of Winnie and Mountain streets.
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Gusty winds and what is being described as walls of dust are moving into the Carson City region this afternoon. The National Weather Service reports thunderstorms with gusty winds and heavy rain moving into the area and will continue through the early evening.
Some power outages in Carson City have been reported. Isolated to scattered thunderstorms will move north across Douglas County and develop farther north along the Carson Range. Any thunderstorms that develop will be slow moving and could produce periods of brief heavy rains that may result in ponding of water on area roads and minor flooding of small streams, according to the weather service.
Gusty winds are expected through early tonight. Outflow winds from the thunderstorms could gust as high as 55 mph producing periods of blowing dust in areas outside any of the rain cores, according to the weather service.