URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV
1111 AM PDT THU OCT 30 2014
...FIRST WINTER STORM OF THE SEASON FOR HALLOWEEN...
.AN EARLY SEASON WINTER STORM WILL BRING MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOW
TO THE SIERRA FRIDAY EVENING INTO SATURDAY MORNING. THE MAIN
IMPACT FROM THIS STORM IS HAZARDOUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS WITH
WHITEOUT CONDITIONS AND CHAIN CONTROLS OVER THE SIERRA PASSES.
THIS STORM WILL LEAD TO THE WINTER CLOSURES FOR THE PASSES IN
ALPINE AND MONO COUNTIES.
And not a moment too soon. Let’s hope that it is a harbinger of a very, very wet winter. The Truckee River is a trickle through Reno at about 5% of its usual flow this time of year. Lake Tahoe is 3 inches below its rim cutting off the Truckee River from its largest source of water. Large reservoirs on the Truckee’s tributaries to the Truckee are near 25% capacity — or less. Drought is not a stranger to the region to be sure. However, this drought occurs with substantially more people – and the resulting additional demand on a dwindling resource.
While, agricultural crops can be foregone in a drought, people in cities demand water regardless of how that demand affects the river and downstream environments. We are intolerant of “insufficient supply” as an argument for reducing our own water use. Right now, perhaps as much as 50-60% of the flow in the river below Reno-Sparks comes from the Sewage Treatment plant. That plant is designed to do a reasonable job of cleaning up the waste water of more than a quarter million people. Nevertheless, that treated sewage waste water is nowhere near as clean as the water that flows into this valley from the Truckee River and its tributaries.
Official Map from US Weather Service 10-30-2014
So, bring on the storms, please. One after the other all the way through May 2015. One can hope.
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