Carson City area weather: Smoke continues to degrade air quality, thunderstorms possible this week
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Sun, 07/25/2021 - 11:45am
Wildfire smoke continues to fill the lower valleys and Sierra on Sunday, bringing poor air quality to the region. Air quality due to the Tamarack, Dixie, Fly, and Bootleg wildfires burning in the region has caused another spike in the Air Quality Index, with readings in the "unhealthy category" and "very unhealthy" range from Gardnerville to Reno, according to AirNow.gov.
Smoke and hazy skies are expected over the next few days in areas downwind of the fires, the National Weather Service advises. Among the areas most affected:
— Reno, Minden, Carson City, Carson Valley, and Washoe Valley
— Fallon, Fernley, Yerington, and Hawthorne
— Far northern California and Nevada near the Oregon Border
— Lake Almanor into Susanville, Doyle, and the Honey Lake Basin
Visibility reductions below 3 miles have occurred in multiple locations across western Nevada and the Sierra with many air quality sensors reporting unhealthy to hazardous conditions, according to the weather service.
Light winds Sunday will result in persistent smoke and haze with substantially degraded air quality. Daytime mixing will help clear things a bit, with light westerly winds late afternoon and early evening further reducing smoke for a few hours in portions of western Nevada and the Sierra.
"Unfortunately, conditions are once again expected to worsen this evening and overnight," according to the weather service.
Meanwhile, forecasters say a "rather solid monsoon moisture surge" will bring increasing thunderstorm chances to the area Sunday through much of the coming week. For Sunday the best odds are in the Eastern Sierra between Tahoe and Mammoth, with thunderstorms possible Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday afternoons over more of the region including Reno-Tahoe, Fallon, and Susanville.
"There are also indications of a cluster of pre-dawn thunderstorms moving through early Tuesday morning, which given the unusual time of day, could catch many people off-guard," according to a special weather statement from NWS. "A significant concern with these storms is the potential for heavy rainfall and flash flooding on recent burn scars such as the Beckwourth Complex and ongoing fires such as the Tamarack Fire. It only takes 5-10 minutes of heavy rains to result in debris flows on these burn areas. Additional impacts include outflow winds to 50 mph, lightning with new fire starts outside storm cores, and small hail."
For Carson City and Carson Valley areas, there's a 20 percent chance of isolated thunderstorms Monday, a 30 percent Monday night, a 20 percent chance Tuesday, and a 30 percent chance Wednesday, according to the weather service as of Sunday morning.
According to the forecast discussion from Sunday morning, additional storm chances continue through the end of the week as moisture remains over the region. The storms could produce localized heavy rainfall, gusty outflow winds — that could kick up areas of dust — and carry the potential for small hail and lightning.
See CarsonWeather.com for Carson City area updates.
