Carson City area weather: Thunderstorm threat prompts Flood Watch extension into Tuesday
Thunderstorm chances remain high across the Sierra and Western Nevada today, Memorial Day, prompting the National Weather Service to extend its Flood Watch for much of the region through Tuesday night.
Those who have outdoor plans should start early to avoid the threat of afternoon and evening thunderstorms along with the lightning, small hail, and heavy rain. Go here for more on the Flood Watch and affected areas.
The weather service also advises to be aware of the hypothermia threat as well as rain-cooled temperatures can drop 15 to 25 degrees with these storms.
Showers and thunderstorms will continue each afternoon through Memorial Day and into Tuesday. Storms will be capable of producing frequent cloud to ground lightning, gusty outflow winds, small hail, and heavy rainfall.
With an influx of people enjoying the outdoors Monday, it is important that individuals have a way to quickly seek shelter in the event that a thunderstorm approaches your area, the weather service advises.
"If a sturdy building is not immediately available, a hard-top vehicle with the windows rolled up can offer good protection from lightning," according to the weather service. "If you plan on doing activities that will leave you vulnerable to the elements such as hiking, consider doing the bulk of those activities in the morning hours before afternoon/evening thunderstorms develop."
With streams and even mainstem rivers already flowing fast and cold, it is still advised to avoid swimming in many areas. Keep in mind that daily showers/thunderstorms will inherently come with the threat of flash flooding. Have a way to receive weather alerts, and get to higher ground immediately if a river or stream you are near begins to rise quickly, if you see debris floating in the water, or the water suddenly becomes muddy, according to the weather service.