Heavy rain fell just east of Reno on Tuesday, with much lighter amounts in the Truckee Meadows.
Storm reports are in, and while some parts of Northern Nevada got lots of rain, others are wishing for more. Thunderstorms are different from winter type precipitation, in that the rain is scattered and not widespread. While it might be dry where you are, drive ten miles and it is pouring. Yes, it did rain in Reno Tuesday afternoon, but the stronger cells stayed along and east of US-95.
Rain totals are ranging from hardly anything to over an inch according to radar. Parts of the Sierra, including Spooner Summitt, got just over three quarters of an inch. Incline Village got just over a third of an inch.
Thunderstorms are a small scale feature, and the dividing line between getting soaked on Tuesday and some quick showers was a matter of 50 miles. Granted, according to radar Virginia City, Hidden Valley, and Peavine did get a nice soaking, but the rain was short lived. The rain was more steady with repeated storms in Churchill and Mineral Counties. This is called training, and can lead to flash flooding. This is why the Flood Watch was issued for parts of Northern Nevada.
The flow was coming out of the south without a lot of steering due to the jet. This leads to slow moving storms and training.
A storm did develop over Peavine, and typically outflow from thunderstorms creates new ones, but sometimes they can stabilize the air, cooling it down. A storm also developed over Hidden Valley and Virginia City Tuesday afternoon, but not much rain fell in Reno itself. There are a couple different theories why this occurred. It was fairly cloudy Tuesday morning, with more sunshine just to the east of Reno.
Sunshine can fuel storms by the afternoon. Storms tend develop along boundaries and they did develop along the cloud boundary on Tuesday. Another theory is that the outflow boundary played a role as well. An outflow boundary is like a mini cold front, and sometimes they can get the air to rise, and other times they can choke off the energy source.
Thunderstorms are also hit and miss, so it could also be that Reno just lucked out.
