Jobs Peak on Nov. 16 after the last snow.
Photo special to The R-C by Phyllis Holmes
A red flag warning has been issued for 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday by the National Weather Service in Reno as a storm front arrives in Western Nevada.
The warning affects Western Nevada and Eastern California including all of Douglas, Mono, Lyon, Storey, Mineral, Churchill, Pershing counties, Carson City, eastern Alpine and southern Washoe counties.
NV Energy has issued a public safety outage watch for 6 a.m. to noon Wednesday for Genoa, Jacks Valley, Clear Creek, Verdi, Galena Washoe Valley Southwest Reno and the Virginia City Highlands.
The alerts are the result of a storm system expected to arrive late tonight and early Wednesday.
Winds are expected to pick up early Wednesday with 25 mph gusts until around 9 a.m. and 35-40 mph gusts through the afternoon.
Rain is not forecast to arrive until after 10 a.m. Wednesday and will be mostly light through Thursday before the next burst arrives on Friday morning.
“An atmospheric river making landfall along the Northern California coast will be the primary culprit in all of the weather impacts popping up this week,” said National Weather Service Reno Meteorologist Edan Weishahn. “The initial wave of moisture arrives Wednesday into Thursday with enough to warrant a winter weather advisory for portions of northeastern California tonight into Wednesday.”
Forecast rain of more than an inch is anticipated starting Friday morning and lasting into Sunday, when it turns to snow.
“Then with the next storm Friday into Saturday, we see a jump in the projected liquid storm totals with 2.5-3 inches for the Sierra crest, .75-1 inch for the foothills, and .10-.75 from the Basin and Range into far Western Nevada,” Weishahn said.
As warmer moisture with the atmospheric river arrives, there will be a rapid climb in snow levels to near 9,000 feet late Wednesday.
The question remains where snow levels will be as Friday's storm arrives.
The next wave could see snow levels around 7,000-7,500 feet for the weekend.
“Initial projections show the potential for 1-2 feet of wet, heavy Sierra cement for areas above 7,000 feet this weekend with this storm,” Weishahn said.
