A Carson Valley resident clears snowy roads in a back hoe on Tuesday.
Genoa, Nev. — There are no road controls over Kingsbury Grade this morning for the first time in more than a week. That might not last, though. Chains or snow tires are still required on Highway 50 from about halfway up Spooner to Stateline. Plows are working along there.
On the California side, Interstate 80 and highways 88, 50 and 395 are all open, though they’re requiring chains or snow tires with four-wheel drive. State offices closed at 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday so workers could get homes before the roads iced up in Western Nevada.
I headed home from Gardnerville after dark, and I didn’t find the roads particularly bad. It looked like the state finally plowed Foothill Road. I prefer the ice to slush, myself.
Store shelves are starting to fill up again now that the trucks have been able to make deliveries. I know that the term localvore has a bit of a hipster stink on it, but the Valley has fed generations before us. It might be time to start looking more favorably at food that doesn’t come in a truck.
If you’ve got business with the government, best to conduct it today, since local, state and federal offices are taking New Year’s Eve off. The R-C will be closed Friday afternoon and Monday for the holiday.
Preparations are underway for Friday night’s New Year’s Eve celebration, and the Sheriff’s Office and surrounding agencies will be out in full force. My hope is that after this week’s traffic debacle, maybe, just maybe, revelers will seek celebrations closer to home.
Today marks the last issue of the 141st volume of The Record-Courier, and we devoted a portion of today’s edition to 2021 in review. Saturday will mark 142 years covering Douglas County, if you don’t include Pratt’s Carson Valley News, which started in Genoa in 1875.
Forecasters are calling for the coldest air in five years for the New Year’s weekend. Any water on the roadways is going to freeze and cause some slick conditions.
There might be some fog today before 10 a.m. and mostly cloudy skies which will help keep it relatively warm. The high is expected to hit 41 degrees and tonight’s low down to 18. Then the freezer door opens on Friday with a forecast low over night of 4 degrees. Brrrr!
Kurt Hildebrand is editor of The Record-Courier. Reach him at khildebrand@recordcourier.com
