textproduct: Reno

KEY MESSAGES

* Dry and seasonable with typical afternoon breezes today.

* Strong cold front brings winds and chances for snowfall Wednesday into Thursday. Widespread hard freezes likely Friday morning.

* Quiet weather and seasonable temperatures for the upcoming weekend, with active weather possible next week.

DISCUSSION

Looking at current satellite imagery, there's just a few cumulus clouds across the region. Further north, we can see our next system moving into the Pacific NW. Temperatures today and tomorrow will remain fairly warm before they take a pretty hefty hit on Thursday.

The main weather event that we're focused on this week is a cold front moving through Wednesday night into thursday morning. Winds ahead of the front Wednesday afternoon may gust up to 45 mph across western NV and NE CA. Stronger winds with a 50-80% chance of gusts exceeding 55 mph may be seen further north over northern Washoe County and Surprise Valley Wednesday afternoon. Current CAMs have the frontal passage along the Sierra Front (Reno, Carson, Minden) anywhere from 1AM to 5AM Thursday morning. During that time, we may see a brief burst of gusty winds (up to 45 mph) as the front is passing through.

Otherwise, not much precipitation is expected with this front. From US-50 northward, there's about a 20% chance to see 2" or more, so 80% chance up to 2" in the higher elevations. Lower valleys like Reno, Fallon, and Susanville have a 30-50% chance to see a trace of snow. Timing on the precip will be 5-8PM Wednesday in Lassen County and northern Washoe County, 10PM-7AM for western NV and the Tahoe Basin, 7-9AM Thursday for Mineral County.

Once this front passes through, it's going to leave us with some pretty chilly temperatures. Highs on Thursday will be in the low 40s in the Sierra and close to 50 in lower NV valleys. Then comes Friday morning. Better bundle up and preheat your car for Friday morning's commute. Low temperatures Friday morning will be below freezing(>90% chance) for most of the CWA. Locations that may be exceptions to this are Pyramid Lake, Walker Lake, and Chalfant Valley. High pressure sets in Friday through the weekend, allowing us to dry out and warm up back to seasonal averages.

-Justin

AVIATION

VFR conditions will continue today, except for KTRK which has a 20% chance to see FZFG again tonight. Westerly breezes with gusts 10-20kt are expected this afternoon for all terminals.

A cold front will be passing through Wednesday night, creating some pre-frontal wind gusts in the afternoon up to 35kt. A wind shift from west to north will likely happen between 08-12Z Thursday morning for terminals around the Tahoe Basin and Sierra Front.

There will be a 20-30% chance for light snow showers Thursday morning between 05-14Z, though accumulations will be minimal (60-70% chance up to 0.1").

-Justin

REV Watches/Warnings/Advisories

NV...Wind Advisory from 11 AM to 11 PM PDT Wednesday NVZ005.

Lake Wind Advisory from 2 PM Wednesday to 7 AM PDT Thursday NVZ002.

Wind Advisory from 2 PM Wednesday to 7 AM PDT Thursday NVZ004.

CA...Wind Advisory from 11 AM to 11 PM PDT Wednesday CAZ070.

Lake Wind Advisory from 2 PM Wednesday to 7 AM PDT Thursday CAZ072.