A thunderstorm washed down the streets of Gardnerville on Thursday evening.
Photo by Kurt Hildebrand.
Genoa, Nev. — Thursday’s thunderstorm caused a 78 cubic foot per second bump in the East Fork coming into Carson Valley from its usual 148 cfs flow to 226 cfs over 45 minutes. Pine Nut Creek was running near the Fish Springs Fire House. I’m not exaggerating when I say it might well have had more water that the West Fork, which is running steady at 17 cfs.
The rain managed to dodge the gauges, but between a half and three-quarters of an inch of rain is estimated to have fallen in the Sierra south of Gardnerville, sending mud and rocks across Highway 4 on Thursday evening. The thunderstorms look like the northern reaches of the monsoons coming up from down south.
Smoke from the East Fork Fire redlined air quality in the Gardnerville Ranchos early this morning with it hitting unhealthy levels around 11 p.m. It peaked around 165 at midnight. The Hawkins fire camera shows that the fire laid down last night, which should give firefighters time to a build a line around it.
While the rain may have slowed the 70-acre fire down, it’s still smoldering in the hills southeast of Gardnerville. Fire officials are asking that people stay clear of the wilderness along the East Fork of the Carson River in the vicinity of Horseshoe Bend. Even Search and Rescue was having a time getting around down there, and the mud didn’t help.
If you’re headed south on Highway 395 toward Walker this morning, be prepared for some emergency traffic down near Eastside Lane where a semi went off the road and tipped over and dumped merchandise all over the place. The driver received minor injuries.
County commissioners voted 3-2 to withhold a raise from Douglas County Manager Patrick Cates on Thursday, saying he was the highest paid county manager in Northern Nevada. According to Transparent Nevada, Washoe County Manager Eric Brown made $226,776 in 2020 compared to Cates’ salary of $208,333. Brown got a raise and a bonus in December, so that rate might be low.
There was another call about the flare going off at the Minden Gardnerville Sanitation District this morning. The plant generates methane, which it uses for heating and power, but sometimes it makes more than it can use, and the district is required to burn it off.
The chance we’ll see another raft of thunderstorms today through Saturday has dropped to 20 percent, according to the National Weather Service. The high today and Saturday are forecast to hit 95 degrees under mostly sunny skies, with the wind 5-10 mph in the afternoon. The weather is forecast to clear in time for Independence Day.
Kurt Hildebrand is editor of The Record-Courier. Reach him at khildebrand@recordcourier.com
