Memorial Day's fire risk is critical for northern Washoe County and elevated to the south, including Reno and Sparks.Â
After a fairly quiet Memorial Day Weekend and first half of Monday, wind speeds will get stronger Monday afternoon. The air is also dry, so make sure to stay fire aware. A Red Flag Warning is up for Northern Washoe County, the Surprise Valley, Lassen County, and Pershing County for strong winds and low relative humidity values. Fire danger is elevated in the Reno area, but not quite as bad as areas north of I-80.
According to the National Weather Service, our fuels are drying out, but are worse north of I-80. Regardless, we still need to be fire aware. The National Weather Service is waiting to get more information from fire experts on the state of our fuels. The Hot Dry Windy Index can be found here.
According to the Strom Prediction Center, Northwestern Nevada is under critical fire danger on Monday, and elevated fire danger further south. The fire risk goes down on Tuesday, but it will still be breezy.
Wind gusts will be in the 30’s and 40’s in Northern Nevada through tonight as the Red Flag Warning goes through 11pm Monday. Relative humidity values will be slightly higher at night, but not as high as we would like them to be.
An area of low pressure will dip south on Tuesday and eventually be cutoff from the jet stream, giving Northern Nevada a pretty good chance for rain. The rain bands will pinwheel around the low and come and go. Wednesday and Thursday will be active, with more hit and miss showers on Tuesday.
The snow level drops along with the front too. Making some light snow possible in the Sierra Wednesday and Thursday, especially at night and early morning. Thunder and lightning can’t be ruled out either. Snow totals will be less than an inch in general, but mountain passes in Mono County could see as much as four.
Rain totals will vary as the rain bands will come and go and will also be convective in nature. Reno could see anywhere between a few hundredths to over a quarter of an inch. There is still quite a bit of variance between models. The Basin and Range will get more rain than the Truckee Meadows this week.
A cold front Tuesday morning will drop temperatures into the 60’s on Tuesday, and even the upper 50’s/low 60’s on Wednesday. The rain will keep us cool as well. Overnight lows will be in the upper 30’s/low 40’s for the Truckee Meadows with only rain expected, no snow.
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