Thanksgiving is not only a time to celebrate what we are thankful for, but it is also a time to reflect. Fall is coming to an end and the winter season is right around the corner. While 2020 has been a rough year because of the pandemic, there are several things in Northern Nevada we can still be thankful for in terms of weather. In fifth place is a few months of fall colors. While we have had a few wind storms lately, the majority of October was quiet, allowing the leaves to stay intact. Conditions have been great for hiking.
Thankfully it wasn’t a brutal summer either. We made it up to 100 degrees six times at the Reno Airport which is more than in 2019 but less than half of the number we saw in 2018 and 2017. While it was still hot this past summer, it could have been worse. Our fairly typical summer heat takes the fourth spot of weather things to be thankful for. In third place is clean air. After several weeks of smoky skies in August and September, clean fresh air is something to be appreciated.
Moving into 2nd place is fresh snow in the mountains. Not only is it finally cold enough to make artificial snow, but many of our local ski resorts have received feet of natural snow over the past month. This also helps out our water supply. The valley even got a few inches of snow earlier this month. After a dry summer and fall, this has been a much needed change. The last time the Reno Airport received this much precipitation was back in March.
We’ll take some rain too, especially after a fire. In 1st place is the rain we saw the night of the Pinehaven Fire. Western Nevada saw anywhere from a tenth of an inch to three fourths of an inch of rain with this system alone, falling hours after the fire began. There was a rainbow Wednesday morning too. Perhaps giving us a sign of hope that one day everything will work out.
