Marilyn Smith said Friday evening’s sudden wind storm brought down many tree limbs around the valley, including these at County Road and Tenth in Minden.
Update: Rain showers brought the first measurable precipitation to Minden in 11 weeks on Saturday. The Douglas County seat saw .02 inches of rain.
While it was a record warmest low of 61 degrees in Minden on Saturday morning, the high temperature officially topped out at 87 degrees.
Skies are expected to clear this week with temperatures dropping into the upper 50s.
A thunderstorm knocked out power and set a brush fire after lightning reportedly struck a power pole on Friday evening.
The sudden storm arrived around 5:20 p.m. and the fire report came in around 5:30 p.m.
East Fork firefighters reported the blaze was burning in moderate fuels toward a home on the west side of East Valley Road.
Forward progress on the fire was stopped by 6 p.m. and it was controlled at just under an acre, according to the Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch.
The strike caused a power brownout across Carson Valley and resulted in loss of power to 138 nvenergy.com customers in the area.
Fredericksburg resident Jeff Garvin reported 30 mph gusts at his home.
“I look across the valley and all I see is dust,” he said. “Thunder, too.”
The automated weather system at Minden-Tahoe Airport in Carson Valley recorded a 51 mph gust at 5:55 p.m. Friday with rain and haze reducing visibility to two miles.
A thunderclap over the west side of the Valley set off the fire alarm at Walley’s Hot Springs south of Genoa.
The storm brought less than a tenth of an inch of rain to most places in Carson Valley.
A thunderstorm above Topaz Lake resulted in down flow winds that sent dust into the air, prompting a fire report around 4:50 p.m. Firefighters didn’t locate a fire, and the Sierra Front reported it as a false alarm.
A gauge on Wild Oat Mountain above the lake reported a 45 mph gust at 5:30 p.m.
