With the next "atmospheric river" system expected to arrive in the Carson City region in the coming days, forecasters are looking at Wednesday into Thursday for potentially damaging winds and heavy rain in the region.
Strong winds will begin to affect the Sierra, Carson City and Western Nevada by Wednesday night and continue through Thursday, prompting a High Wind Warning from the National Weather Service from Wednesday, 10 a.m. through Thursday, 4 p.m.
“This wind event looks to be quite strong, and could be the strongest one we have seen in a couple years,” according to the weather service. “This looks stronger than anything we have seen so far this winter and possible since 2014 with gusts to 70 mph in valley locations and a few foothill locations could approach 100 mph.”
The weather service advises that now would be the best time to check that your furniture, decorations, trampolines and fencing is secure for the strong winds. Choppy conditions are likely across Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake for Wednesday night and Thursday.
There will be a potential for travel restrictions, especially for high profile vehicles due to strong crosswinds. Generally wind gusts should be in the 50 to 60 mph range, but wind prone locations such as Washoe Valley and along Highway 395 between Reno and Susanville, could experience gusts 70+ mph. Ridge winds will be howling with wind gusts exceeding 100 MPH along the Sierra crest.
Due to the Atmospheric River nature of the approaching storm, a Flood Watch has also been issued for late Wednesday night through Thursday night, including the areas of Reno, Carson City, Carson Valley, Dayton, and Lake Tahoe.
According to the weather service, Atmospheric Rivers are relatively narrow regions in the atmosphere that are responsible for most of the horizontal transport of water vapor outside of the tropics. While ARs come in many shapes and sizes, those that contain the largest amounts of water vapor, the strongest winds, and stall over watersheds vulnerable to flooding, can create extreme rainfall and floods. These events can disrupt travel, induce mud slides, and cause catastrophic damage to life and property.
Finally, increasing rainfall Wednesday night into Thursday is looking more likely with higher snow levels Thursday and Thursday night. The weather service is looking at this closely and will elaborate more this afternoon. Go here for the weather discussion, CarsonWeather.com for Carson City specific forecasts and here for Carson City area mapping that tracks areas of flooding in real-time.