textproduct: Reno

KEY MESSAGES

* A mild cold front will pass through the region today, bringing light rain and mountain snow chances areawide along with gusty winds, strongest across the Western Nevada Basin and Range and eastern Sierra.

* A brief cooldown and breezy winds are expected on Thursday.

* Dry conditions and above average temperatures are forecast this weekend through the first half of next week.

DISCUSSION

Our cold front has arrived this morning, with a narrow band of rain moving ESE into western NV. The snow level just out ahead of the precip is currently around 7000ft, with some W NV valley locations expected to reach into the mid 50s before the front rolls through. Mono County will be the last area to hold onto >7000ft snow levels until after 4 PM, when the front finally makes it down there. Precip chances start off around 60-70% in NE CA, then drop to 30-40% across the Sierra and W NV today. QPF amounts range from 0.01-0.20" for this whole system, where Lassen County and the Sierra crest will see the higher range of those amounts and W NV and the Tahoe basin will see the lower range.

Gusty winds out of the west to northwest will be the main hazard associated with this cold front. We'll see widespread gusts of 30-35 mph and wind prone locations along US-95 in Mineral County and US- 395 in Mono County gusting 50-65+ mph. Peak winds will be between 12PM-7PM. As of the time of this AFD, some peak gusts across the area are 71 mph along 395 near Galena, 56 mph in Washoe Valley, 46 mph at KTVL, and 44 mph near Virginia Lakes.

As the front pushes SE throughout the afternoon, as mentioned before, the temperatures across W NV and NE CA will peak in the 55- 62 range and just barely over 40 degrees in the Sierra before dropping significantly once the front passes overhead. Morning temperatures tomorrow will be at most 32 degrees for all of W NV and NE CA, and down into the teens for Sierra valleys.

Moving ahead to tomorrow and beyond, we will dry out and warm up. Mostly sunny skies and light winds will be the main theme through the weekend and into next week. Temperatures may heat up to 70 by Sunday for W NV valleys and stay elevated into next week. Stay tuned to see when our next chance for rain/snow will be.

-Justin

AVIATION

A cold front is currently sweeping through the region from NW to SE today allowing for gusty winds with light rain and mountain snow chances. Area TAF sites will experience west-northwest winds gusting up to around 30-35kt today through 00Z before tapering off. KTVL will be the lone exception to this statement with southerly winds. KTRK and KTVL will see some rain showers between 04/21-24Z which will bring about MVFR conditions. FL100 winds in the Sierra increase to around 45-50 kts this afternoon which will cause some some LLWS for Sierra terminals.

-078/Justin

AVALANCHE

A cold front bringing gusty winds with light rain and snow shower chances (20-40%) is expected across the Sierra today between noon and 8PM. Tahoe will get the precipitation chances first, then as the front moves south, Mono County will finally see some light showers later on in the evening.

* Snow levels and amounts: Snow levels look to be 6-7 kft this morning then drop to <6 kft in the afternoon from north to south. Minimal snowfall accumulation is expected (10-20% chance of 1+ inches in the Tahoe Basin above 7 kft, 10-15% chance 0.5+ inches in Mono County above 8 kft).

* SLR and SWE: SLRs 7-10:1 at the start of the snow, then increasing to 12-14:1 as the front pushes south of Tahoe. SWE expected to be less than 0.20 inches along the highest peaks.

* Wind gusts: Southwest-west ridgetop wind gusts up to 70-80 mph in the afternoon.

* Lightning: Thunderstorm chances generally <10%, some areas around Tahoe could reach 10-15% in more convective showers between 1-4 PM. -Justin/078

REV Watches/Warnings/Advisories

NV...Lake Wind Advisory until 10 PM PST this evening NVZ002.

Wind Advisory until 10 PM PST this evening NVZ001-004.

CA...Lake Wind Advisory until 10 PM PST this evening CAZ072.

Wind Advisory until 10 PM PST this evening CAZ073.