Dry weather over western Nevada, Carson City and Sierra will continue over the next couple days with more storms headed our way into next weekend and possibly beyond, according to the National Weather Service.
Flood impacts are ongoing for many locations across the Sierra and western Nevada. Now is a good time to improve or strengthen flood mitigation by removing obstructions from culverts and drains that may block the flow of water, the weather service advises.
Dry conditions along with seasonable temperatures will continue through Wednesday before the first of several storms push into the region. Thursday begins a lengthy period of wet conditions as a series of storms backed by an atmospheric moisture tap move into the region, according to the weather service.
This series of storms will generally be colder and not quite as wet as recent events. However, the duration of precipitation will be extensive lasting about a week with a few, brief breaks in between systems.
Lower Sierra valleys will likely see a return of flooding impacts. This first wave may produce about 1-2 inches of rain equivalent precipitation for the Sierra through Thursday night with the bulk occurring early Thursday morning. Snow levels will start around 8,000 feet before dropping to 5,500 feet Friday morning.
Expect river rises for Sierra locations; fortunately, this will be the warmest round of precipitation.
The next impulses will occur over the weekend and early next week with each wave capable of bringing 1-2 inches of rain equivalent precipitation, which translates to feet of snow in higher elevations.
Flooding impacts will likely lessen as snow levels linger around 5,000 feet which would limit runoff into area rivers.
All said and done, this series of storms appears to be a decent snowpack builder with several feet of new snow possible for the higher Sierra through next Monday.
Check the latest forecast at weather.gov/Reno and check road conditions with Caltrans and NDOT.
For the latest weather discussion go here. For weather updates for Carson City, see CarsonWeather.com.
Currently, the forecast for western Nevada is very limited due to system trajectories. There may be a need to increase rain and snow amounts over the next few days. Check back for updates.
