We're pretty thirsty for rain in Reno.
"Last year we issued 53 flash flood warnings for our entire area," said meteorologist Edan Weishahn.
This year only three. Including Wednesday we're at 79 days and counting, it's the eight longest stretch of dry weather we've ever had in Reno. We only need six more days to be in the top six. Even after a moderate winter, we still have a lot of catch up work to do. We'll have to dip into our drought reserves by the beginning of September. Last time we didn't have to was in 2013.
"On a normal year we'd have normal Truckee River flows which would satisfy all the downstream water right holders throughout the year. We're far too dry from that point," said hydrologist Bill Hauck.
Luckily we'll only need about quarter of what we used last year.
"We'll end up using less than 10 percent of what we currently have in storage," said Hauck.
But we still need rain. When you calculate the numbers, the average total precipitation for Reno during the summer is a little bit less than an inch. As a frame of reference we got an inch and half last year, and nothing so far in 2016. The rain would help cool us off too.
"This year it just seems like the track has been a little bit north instead of getting that moisture from the troughs we're just getting wind," said Weishahn.
The chance for rain also lowers the demand.
"People actually respond to clouds in the sky. We've seen when the skies darken and just appears like it's going to rain customers go and adjust sprinklers based on that," said Hauck.
Which means we still need to conserve water and follow the rules set a while ago. On the plus side, our upstream reserves are doing quite well, you can track their progress by going to TMWA's website.
