After a fairly tame start to the summer season, the heat has set in and doesn’t look like it will leave anytime soon. High pressure is still the main player in our forecast and is moving farther to the west. It was situated over the four corners region earlier this week, allowing for scattered showers and thunderstorms. With an area of low pressure traveling through the Pacific Northwest and a ridge inching closer, our flow is coming out of the southwest pumping in drier, more stable air into our region. Highs this weekend will be in the upper 90’s and triple digits are expected again early next week.
Thunderstorms are tricky in that they can bring lots of rain to a small localized area, but nothing ten minutes away. Central and eastern Nevada got some rain this week, but nothing fell at the Reno airport. Only trace amounts of rain fell in Reno in June and nothing so far in July. The good news is that for the water year itself, which starts October 1st, Reno is slightly above average with just under seven inches. It’s a much different picture for the year 2022 itself. Slightly less three quarters of an inch of precipitation has fallen in Reno since the beginning of the year, or 3.86” less than normal. The mountains did get some snow in late spring, but the valley saw a lot of shadowing.
The monsoonal pattern can bring up some moisture this time of year, but the placement of the jet stream was just too far to the east to give Reno itself anything significant. The flow around high pressure is clockwise, which allows for the wind direction to come up out of the south. A southerly flow is a good direction for Nevada to get wet. Southwesterly flow tends to dry us out. While Reno technically didn’t get any rain this past week, areas just to the east of 395 did. July usually brings Reno about a tenth of an inch of rain. Much of the Truckee Meadows and around Tahoe is still in a severe drought.
Going forward, temperatures will stay hot and the sun will be out in full force. Highs will be in the upper 90’s over the weekend and triple digits next week. Lows will be in the 60’s. Thankfully it hasn’t been as hot as last summer, when Reno reached 100 degrees 22 times, breaking the all time record for number of 100 degree days. So far this year, Reno has seen six days in the triple digits. Thursday would make seven. To combat the heat, the ice cream forecast calls for three ice cream treats each day through next week. Stay cool!
