Snow drought in an average year of precipitation for Truckee River

The Truckee River watershed saw more rain than snow this year. So, this year appears to continue the trend of at least the last decade as rain replaces snow – especially at lower elevations. The maps show just how significant the effect is as we approach the end of the first month of spring. Many Continue Reading »

One Truckee River Month: May 1 through May 31

One Truckee River kicks off its inaugural OTR Month with river events for each day this May. Activities include river tours, yoga on the river, learning about the river, river and park clean-ups, vendors offering food and more. Below is a schedule of some of the events. The One Truckee River website (onetruckeeriver.org) will have Continue Reading »

Truckee River escapes drought designation

Southern California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico are experiencing severe drought conditions, but far western Nevada and parts of northern California are not. In fact, the map on the US Drought Monitor website currently shows that the Truckee River and Lake Tahoe basins are in the “none” category. We are however, surrounded by “abnormally Continue Reading »

Truckee River snowpack much improved; still below average

The greatly improved snowpack will improve runoff in the Truckee River and flows to Pyramid Lake this spring. The snow and rain in March did come too little and too late to push us to an average water year, however. How quickly drought conditions on the river will return depends on how rapidly the spring Continue Reading »

Spring Equinox Storm brings late surge in Truckee River basin snowpack

Rain over a two day period in Reno is always a rare event. Even less common is a spring equinox atmospheric river storm that drops nearly an inch of rain at the airport in Reno. I recorded 1.75″ of rain in NW Reno from March 20 to 22 while temperatures during the storm never dropped Continue Reading »