If ever there was a day to stay inside and hide underneath the covers, Monday was it.
Gusts as strong as 75 mph whipped through Northern Nevada, bringing down power lines, tipping over a semi-truck in Washoe Valley and reigniting a controlled burn from Sunday.
The winds were expected to end their reign of terror late Monday night, said National Weather Service forecaster John Corey. There may be some showers today, but the wind won't be as fierce.
"We will get extended strong wind until midnight," he said. "Winds like this are a little more difficult to predict than typical weather. I can just say it's a broad, strong windfall."
Corey said the warmth that came with the gust is being caused by a strong jet stream that has been working its way down the continent.
"The wind flow pattern that we have seen all fall has changed," he said. "Wind flow has been in the 100 mph range in the mountain peaks. It has pushed the warm air into the valleys, which in turn pushes the cold air out."
Corey warns not to expect the warmth to continue past Wednesday when the weather service expects colder temperatures to return.
Several major gusts were registered at monitoring stations throughout the Carson/Tahoe area. The most extreme example was a 138 mph gust felt on Virginia Peak. That weather station is at an elevation of about 8,000 feet.
Reno and Carson Country residents felt wind speeds closer to the mid-70s. A "weather watcher in Carson Valley recorded a 77 mph gust.
Carson City airport also recorded gusts in that range. No airplanes were affected.
In the early afternoon, a truck-driver was surprised by a gust that tipped a rig onto its side. Nevada Highway Patrol dispatchers said they don't believe the accident caused any injuries.
In Carson Valley, a controlled burn from Sunday was stoked by the wind, but was quickly brought under control after about one acre burned. The fire was determined to be accidental.
Although several power lines were knocked down in Carson City and Carson Valley, few customers were affected.
"There were some scattered outages," said Sierra Pacific Power spokesman Karl Walquist. "It was mostly tree limbs knocking out power to a few houses."
Walquist said the most significant events were an outage on Long Street near the intersection with Fall Street about 3:30 p.m. that was quickly restored and a fallen power pole on Ormsby Boulevard.
