Carson City area weather: Forecasters get it right with Sunday prediction
From sunny skies and warm temperatures to gusty winds, significantly cooler conditions and the chance for a blast of snow in the Sierra and maybe even down to the valley floor: what a difference a day makes. It should be noted that forecasters were well ahead on their game day weather predictions, giving us an a 4-day heads up about the wind and its arrival this Super Bowl Sunday.
According to the National Weather Service, widespread southwest winds Sunday morning will shift to the northwest behind the front. At the time of this writing, a wind gust of 33 mph happened shortly before 9 a.m., the highest of the system thus far, according to Carsonweather.com.
This will bring travel impacts on roadways and rough air for aviation. The strongest winds are anticipated to be near and south of US-50, with US-395 and US-95 possibly seeing travel restrictions for high profile vehicles, according to the weather service.
Areas of blowing dust are also possible near and east of US-95. A very dry air mass will be in place ahead of the cold front, which along with the strong winds will bring increased fire danger for Mono and Mineral counties.
A brief period of higher intensity snow is also likely during the day Sunday, which may cause travel impacts on roadways including across Sierra passes. Road impacts in Western Nevada cities remain more uncertain due to warm ground temperatures, according to the weather service.
However, don't be surprised if there are slick roads coming home from Sunday afternoon gatherings. Icy spots on roadways could linger into Monday morning.
Monday and Tuesday will be cold, certainly compared to what we`ve seen recently. Temperatures Monday will be about 30 degrees colder compared to Saturday. Brisk north winds will bring wind chills in the teens and 20s in warmer valley locations with well below zero reading in the higher elevations of the Sierra. Snow showers are possible in this cold airmass, including lake effect snow squalls south of Pyramid, Tahoe, and Walker Lakes. This could affect travel on I-80 between Reno and Fernley during the Monday morning commute.
For road conditions go to NVRoads.com.