The Ruhenstroth falls are running along Highway 395 this morning across from the turnoff to the Fish Hatchery. Photo by Patrick Griffin
Genoa, Nev. — The East Fork just downstream from Markleeville is rising much faster than forecast, with 5.64 feet observed at 5:30 a.m., surpassing the level it wasn’t supposed to reach until noon. If it keeps going at this rate, it will the crest by lunchtime, 10 hours early.
There is a reported 6-8 inches of water flowing over Buckeye Road near the Minden Maintenance Yard north of town this morning. That might be the first closure of the day. It sounds like Centerville near Bass has also been overtopped.
A flood advisory remains in effect until 11 a.m. Sunday, so don’t put away those pontoons too soon. Even after the rain stops, forecast warm temperatures will still affect snowmelt.
An outage affecting 243 homes and businesses at Lake Tahoe was repaired by 6 a.m., according to NVenergy.com. The outage occurred right around 2:44 a.m. and sent a power bump across the county.
Around the same time, Tahoe residents were losing the lights, a 60 mph wind gust blasted through Carson Valley, according to a wind gauge along Highway 88 between Mottsville and Centerville. The wind advisory is sticking around until 10 p.m.
Fredericksburg resident Jeff Garvin reported 2.45 inches of rain and climbing as of 5:09 a.m. today. I received 1.8 inches in my gauge north of Genoa. The Minden-Tahoe Airport automated gauge recorded an inch of rain over the 12 hours between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. today.
The Carson Valley Arts Council concert featuring David Jacobs-Strain and Bob Beach is scheduled for 7 p.m. today at the CVIC Hall. I don’t know if that’s still a go. I expect the Women’s Remembering Project will be conducted on Saturday afternoon as scheduled, but both those events may be at the mercy of the weather.
Backyard burning opens on Saturday, though I bet there aren’t a lot of folks trying to burn in the wind and rain. There will be plenty of chances to burn between now and May 14 when the season is over.
The 8,300-foot snow level is forecast to drop to 6,800 feet this afternoon, which should slow down the deluge a smidge. The high temperature is supposed to top out at 47 degrees, with the winds 25-30 mph, gusting to 45 mph. And it will rain, today.
Kurt Hildebrand is editor of The Record-Courier. Reach him at khildebrand@recordcourier.com
