pacific northwest

RENO — With much of the State of Nevada listed as in extreme drought, Nevadans are facing forecasts for a mild winter, with little precipitation since the rainy season started. With these designations, southern Nevadans are facing a mild and dry winter and northern Nevadans are looking at an uncertain forecast. All could face water restrictions, crop or pasture loss and, with exceptional drought, water shortage emergencies.

A winter storm will bring a round of strong and possibly damaging winds for most areas, with heavy wet snow for the Sierra late Sunday night into Tuesday morning and mostly rain down to the valley floors.

The weather will transition to a more active pattern with periods of mountain snow, valley rain, and gusty winds later Friday through Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service. A second colder system will be on its heels for early Monday and will provide chances for another round of snow.

A series of fairly weak weather systems will move into western Nevada through the weekend that may break down the persistent dry pattern, bringing in breezy conditions with slight chances of very light snow showers Friday night into Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

In the midst of an unexpected recession and staggering job losses across the country, NV Energy has proposed a massive new transmission infrastructure project that it says will create jobs, boost the economy and help promote renewable energy development.

RENO — With wildland fires eating up the forests and rangelands of Nevada each summer, and fire season now upon us, University of Nevada, Reno scientists are examining how drought, climate change and land management will affect future fire activity and how fires can in turn influence plant, soil and hydrologic processes.

Impressions. They are what we remember about people, places or things that come into and out of our lives.

RENO — The U.S. Geological Survey has awarded more than $12.5 million to seven universities and a university-governed non-profit to support operation, improvement and expansion of the ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system for the West Coast of the United States.

Our big birch has finally given up after decades of bronze birch borer and sapsucker damage. Rows of regular horizontal holes about a quarter-inch in diameter cover the trunk from bottom to top. These are caused by sapsucker woodpeckers drilling for sap in the tree. Initally, borer damage reduced the flow of water and food within the tree, causing limbs to die each year. The sapsucker feeding finally finished the tree off.

The Brewery Arts Center in Carson City will feature the return of Blarney Man this Saturday as part of the Celtic Music Series.

Cory Michaelis will be headlining the Carson Comedy Club Oct 5-6 at 8PM located inside the Carson Nugget 507 N Carson St. Make it a date night and enjoy some great food at Angelina's Italian Steakhouse inside the Carson Nugget.

Cory recently recorded his first comedy special “Collage Graduate” – 45 minutes of squeaky clean material – in Provo, Utah at Dry Bar Comedy and released his first album “The Collage Dropout” that reached #2 on Billboard and #3 on iTunes.

The Brewery Arts Center continues an unforgettable season of free music under the stars in Carson City. With 8 concerts to go all summer, grab your family, friends and neighbors and get ready to head on down to Carson City and Brewery Arts Center for Levitt AMP Carson City presented by The Change Companies.

Carson City's very own Celtic music series continues Saturday when The Valerie Rose Band takes center stage at the Brewery Arts Center in the Maizie Harris Jesse Black Box Theater.

RENO, Nev. – The future of snowpack and water resources in the American West now has another variable in the equation for water managers – humidity, which can actually increase snowmelt even on a cloudy day.

Celtic music will fill the Carson City air this Saturday as “Blarney Man” appears at the Brewery Arts Center in the Maizie Harris Jesse Black Box Theater.

This Thanksgiving week will bring partly to mostly sunny skies and dry conditions for the Carson City region, according to the National Weather Service. Those traveling for the holiday can expect much of the same throughout the West with some rain in the Pacific Northwest.

UPDATE 4:05PM: The brush fire has been contained and units will be released shortly, said Carson City Fire Department Chief Sean Slamon.
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Carson City Fire Department responded Thursday afternoon to a report of a power line sparking and causing a small brush fire in an area between Duck Hill Road and Goni Road northeast of Carson City and southeast of Washoe Lake.

Got salmon?

The pacific salmon fishing industry is a $3 billion dollar industry that has had a significant cultural and natural impact on the Pacific Northwest and the United States as a whole.

Unfortunately, populations of pacific salmon in the Pacific Northwest have declined significantly in the last century.

This not only poses a significant threat to the local economy, but it has had major repercussions for the ecosystem and the cultures of the native peoples of the Northwest.

This Friday, July 21 at 7 p.m., Jessica R Tucker (saxophone) and Katie Lauder (piano) will perform a recital at the Brewery Arts Center Performance Hall. Ms. Tucker has been selected to attend the prestigious Gnessin Academy of Music in Moscow, which has produced the most world champion saxophone players ever.

With hot weather settling into the Carson City region, the chance of afternoon thunderstorms will increase through the early part of the week, according to the National Weather Service.

A weak La Nina has arrived and may stick around through winter, NOAA announced Thursday. Forecasters say the climate phenomena will likely contribute to drier and warmer weather in the southern U.S. and wetter, cooler conditions in the Pacific Northwest and across to the northern tier of the nation this winter.

International experts will join with local seismologists in a public forum this month to inform the region on the dangers and probabilities of devastating earthquakes, and how to recover economically as a region.

Contrary to the general public perception, the California-Nevada border region is at risk for large, magnitude 7-plus earthquakes striking the greater Reno-Tahoe region. In a magnitude 6 earthquake, according to FEMA estimates, the region could suffer billions of dollars in damage: $1.9 billion in the Reno/Sparks area and $590 million in the Stateline area.

A series of moisture-laden storms are forecast to hit Western Nevada and the Sierra beginning Saturday, bringing with them significant snowfall to the mountains and a rain/snow mix to the valleys, the National Weather Service forecast shows.

More than 17,500 earthquakes were recorded in 2015 by the University of Nevada, Reno’s Nevada Seismological Laboratory. That includes the 231 recent quakes in south Reno and the magnitude 4.8 in Caliente that shook Las Vegas in January 2015.

Hot, near record temperatures are expected through Saturday across the Eastern Sierra and Western Nevada, according to the National Weather Service. Highs will near be in the mid 90s in Carson City to near 100 across Western Nevada valleys and the deserts of Northeast California.

A U.S. government weather forecaster on Thursday said El Nino conditions would gradually weaken through the northern hemisphere spring after peaking in late fall or early winter.

The National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center said the likelihood that El Nino conditions would persist through the northern hemisphere winter was about 95 percent, up from a more than 90 percent chance in last month's forecast.

The National Weather Service in Reno has released a video discussing the possible impacts of a projected El Niño for the winter of 2015-16.

Government weather forecasters have said there is now a better than 90 percent chance of a strong El Niño this winter and an 80 percent chance it will last until early spring of 2016. The weather phenomenon, which is warmer than normal water in the tropical Pacific, has been shaping up since spring.

Eleven different opponents and a series of intrasquad games highlight Western Nevada College's upcoming fall baseball season. The Wildcats begin their two-month fall scrimmage campaign with intrasquad games on Friday and Saturday at John L. Harvey Field in Carson City.

The Capital City Arts Initiative [CCAI] announces its exhibition, "Tow'ring High", by artist Deon Reynolds at the Carson City Community Center's Sierra Room from July 8 – November 10, 2015. Community Center is located at 851 E. William Street, Carson City. The show's title comes from the state song, "Home Means Nevada."

A U.S. government weather forecaster on Thursday raised the likelihood that El Nino conditions would last into the Northern Hemisphere's early spring to 85 percent, boosting the probability that drought-stricken California could see increased rains.