Carson City area weather to bring warm fall days and cool nights heading into October
Warmer weather and less smoke may be in store for the Carson City area this week, along with breezy conditions as a ridge of high pressure is forecast to bring sunny skies and light winds heading into the first weekend of October.
Smoke from the Creek Fire has been on the decline over southern Mono County since Saturday evening, with air quality sensors improving to the Moderate category as of 1 a.m. Northeast to east winds over the Sierra will prevail through Monday, keeping smoke from the main CA fires west of the crest.
As we get to Tuesday, forecasters say winds become lighter and shift to the west over the Sierra ridges. What it means for smoke transport will depend on fire activity in northern-central CA during the next couple of days with dry conditions and gusty winds.
There are a number of Red Flag Warnings extending from the California Bay area into the Central Valley and west slope foothills and Northern Sierra. See the fire weather warnings here.
Otherwise, the prevailing weather highlight will be the moderately breezy northeast-east winds with some choppy conditions on the west shores of Lake Tahoe Sunday — not quite to Lake Wind Advisory levels but enough to be noticed.
These northeast-east winds are expected again Monday. Temperatures will remain a few degrees cooler than with highs mainly in the upper 70s to near 80 in some lower elevations by Monday.
For Tuesday, we will see temperatures return to the mid to upper 80s for most areas as the strong ridge of high pressure currently near the California coast builds inland across California and Nevada. Other than a few late day flat cumulus forming near the Sierra, clear and dry conditions will prevail.
For Wednesday and through the weekend, high pressure remains over the West Coast through the second half of next week, with temperatures around 10-15 degrees above average for this time of year. High temperatures will reach into the mid-upper 80s across much of western Nevada, with 70s and low 80s in the Sierra, forecasters say.
Longer autumn nights will help to keep chilly morning lows through next week as well with night time lows in the mid to upper 40s. Dry and warm conditions remain in the forecast through the first week of October, as the high pressure looks to remain locked in place.