Just from listening to the Carson and Truckee Rivers you can tell they are running high and they’ll get even higher this summer. While the Truckee is still well below flood stage right now the West Fork of the Carson River could already see some minor flooding come Thursday night. As of Wednesday afternoon the Carson is running around 12.5 cubic feet per second and it has to get to 13.5 to reach minor flood stage.
"Impacts there are mostly agricultural areas and possibly a few rural roads. Otherwise rivers will just be running fast and cold,” said Hydrologist Tim Bardsley.
The west fork of the Carson is pretty secluded and away from homes, but if you want to do some hiking and camping you'll have to be cautious. The same goes for the Truckee. You’ll want to be careful because the river is moving quickly and is still very cold. Flooding is not likely this year. The Truckee will probably reach it’s highest flows towards the beginning of summer, because of melting snow.
"This is a good thing to get some of the snow melted and reduce that contributed area before we have much more energy to melt the snow from the sun and warmth in May and June.” said Bardsley.
What we don’t want are extremes in temperature and rain, especially in a couple months when we stay light out longer. These extremes can cause the snow to melt rapidly, and we have a lot of it. While it was a good winter, the snowpack is not the same as a couple years ago. Which helps.
"This year coming into spring we actually had higher snow totals in the low and mid elevations than in 2017 but total snow volume is quite a bit less,” said Bardsley.
In the Reno area we’ll mainly have to watch our creeks and streams for flooding, not the Truckee. If you plan on camping this spring or summer make sure to spend the night a good distance from the river, because it could rise and move further inland while you are asleep.
