Carson City area weather: Smoky skies, cool and breezy with chance of rain, high elevation snow
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Thu, 09/15/2022 - 3:03pm
While smoky skies are expected to remain, changes are ahead around the Carson City area including cooler temperatures, a chance for rain showers and maybe even some snow showers in the Sierra by the end of the weekend.
Seasonal temperatures through the end of the work week are expected with afternoon breezes around 20 to 25 mph. Overnight lows Friday for the colder mountain areas will drop near and below freezing. Daytime highs will be right around 80 degrees Friday for western Nevada valleys while in the Sierra it may be in the low 70s.
The National Weather Service weekend forecast discussion provides some detail into what's likely ahead.
Saturday and Sunday will be breezy over the Sierra and western Nevada, with winds gusting 30 mph to 35 mph over most lower valley areas of western Nevada with ridgetop winds around the Lake Tahoe Basin tipping the 50 mph to 60 mph range Saturday into Sunday, according to the weather service.
Although the increased winds will bring near fall-like conditions in the region (at least over Sierra locations), there is the potential for fire weather impacts from the Mosquito fire, as well as impacts to lake recreational activities through the upcoming weekend, forecasters noted in the discussion.
Daytime highs around Carson City, Carson Valley and Dayton areas will be in the low to mid 70s Saturday and mid-60s Sunday and Monday.
Although there is an increased potential for showers and precipitation over the region, timing and amounts still remain the central points of uncertainty starting Sunday through early next week, forecasters said.
As of the latest forecast heading into the weekend, there's a 30 to 40 percent chance of a few hundredths of an inch of some sort of precipitation making its way east into the Basin and Range of western Nevada. There is also at least a one-in-three chance of a half inch or more of measurable precipitation across some higher Sierra locations through early next week.
Snow levels are expected to drop overnight Saturday into Sunday to near 7,000 feet across northeast California before rising some into the 8,000 to 9,000 feet range, according to the NWS forecast discussion.
Chilly overnight lows into the high 20s and 30s for some Sierra locations will bring that fall-like feel to the region. Therefore, the potential for higher elevation snow remains good with the white stuff teasing some higher peaks across the Sierra Crest overnight Monday into Tuesday, forecasters said.
In terms of wildfire smoke, the same pattern will hold as seen over the last several days where some improvement will be in place mid-morning into early afternoons before the southwest flow transports denser smoke across the Tahoe Basin and into the greater Reno, Sparks and Carson City, Carson Valley areas during the afternoons.
Expected continued impacts to visibility and air quality during the afternoons. For the latest air quality information continue go to fire.airnow.gov.
