textproduct: Reno

KEY MESSAGES

* Light rain with a low chance of afternoon thunderstorms persists near the Oregon border today. Dry and breezy elsewhere. * Smoke may lead to periods of degraded air quality across the Reno area, Tahoe Basin, and eastern Sierra today and Friday.

* Warm and dry weather prevails Friday into the weekend. Rain and thunderstorm chances may return to the Sierra south of Tahoe early next week.

DISCUSSION

* The upper low swings through the area this afternoon, bringing a 15-30% chance for showers and a 15% chance for thunderstorms in Lassen County, northern Washoe County, as well as the Surprise Valley. These storms are capable of gusts to 40 mph, infrequent lightning, and very light precipitation amounts. Winds are lighter today, with typical westerly winds this afternoon and evening with gusts of 20-25 mph. With the low pressure overhead, current temperatures are around 5-10 degrees cooler compared to this time yesterday. High temperatures will end up around 10 degrees below average for mid-September. * Areas of smoke and haze from the Floriston Fire west of Reno is still forecast to filter into the greater Tahoe/Reno area this evening. Also, the Dome Fire located in Yosemite National Park is forecasted to send smoke into Mono and Mineral counties. This smoke may impact air quality. Visit fire.airnow.gov for more information on air quality. * For Friday, the aforementioned upper low will continue to track into the northern Rockies. A weak, dry cold front is still on track to move through the area on Friday. We'll maintain temperatures that are around 10 degrees below normal with light east to northeast winds. A ridge will quickly move through the area this weekend. This will allow for temperatures to increase around 5 degrees on Saturday, and another few degrees higher on Sunday. For Monday and Tuesday, another weak upper low will quickly move through the region. This feature is also dry, and much of the district may not see much precipitation. But, orographics with enough upper level lift will give a 15% chance of rain showers in the eastern Sierra mostly south of Lake Tahoe. Currently, the ensembles are showing a considerable amount of uncertainty for days 4 to 7. For now, temperatures will trend toward climatology, and precipitation chances are low. -McKellar

AVIATION

* Light morning winds will become W/SW sustained 10-15 kts with gusts of 20-25 kts from 19Z to around 03Z.

* Smoke from the Floriston fire may reduce visibilities at KRNO this afternoon, but to what extent is dependent on fire activity. A wind shift may redirect smoke impacts/VIS reductions away from KRNO and toward KTRK-KTVL on Friday.

* Smoke from the Dome Fire may also reduce visibilities at KMMH this afternoon. -McKellar

REV Watches/Warnings/Advisories

NV...None. CA...None.