Topaz Lake resident Terry Judge took this photo of a lightning strike behind the Topaz Lodge over the weekend.
Hillary’s last gasp brought heavy rain to portions of Carson Valley on Tuesday morning, with Minden recording .35 inches and Ruhenstroth reporting .37 inches since Monday night.
Rain associated with ex-hurricane Hilary was sufficient to finally break 2017’s grip on the record as wettest calendar year.
Minden Weather Watcher Stan Kapler confirmed that 1.01 inches of rain fell since Friday in the Douglas County Seat. That was right on the money for the forecast amount over the three days.
Thanks to the boost, 2023, finally pulled ahead of 2017 for the wettest year on record.
The water year, which starts on Oct. 1, was up to 23.26 inches, Kapler said on Monday, far and away outstripping the 2016-17 water year when 21.03 inches fell.
Along with the thunderstorms that graced Friday and Saturday evenings, Hilary spread the rain out over a larger area on Sunday night.
Genoa received .71 inches since 3 p.m. Saturday, while upper Johnson Lane recorded .64 inches over the same 48-hour period.
Even further south, Hilary didn’t quite carry the forecast punch.
“Tropical Storm Hilary has finally made its way out of Mono County and the impacts were minimal,” spokesman Justin Caporusso said. “We have received no reports of flooding or damage to roads or highways within Mono County.”
Alpine County experienced some flooding along Airport Road, according to road crews working on Tuesday. Markleeville received .98 inches of rain over the weekend.
By Tuesday morning a flood advisory was cancelled for portions of
Alpine and Mono counties. Portions of Douglas County were also covered under the advisory.
