Batten down for snow tonight

A snowstorm expected to drop several inches of snow in Northern Nevada tonight was preceded by gray clouds and occasional intense snow showers in Carson City on Tuesday.

Also Tuesday, a 3 p.m. outage left more than 10,000 Sierra Pacific Power Co. customers in northern and eastern Carson City, Mound House and Incline Village without power for about an hour.

The outage was due to an equipment malfunction in a five-line substation that provides electricity, according to power company spokesperson Karl Walquist.

Power was restored by about 4 p.m.

By that time, much of eastern Carson City was covered in a layer of light snow, particularly in outlying areas. Temperatures, which had been in the mid-40s on Monday, dropped into the high 20s by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Those lows are expected to continue through tonight, when National Weather Service meteorologists are predicting the brunt of a storm moving from Alaska to strike.

"On Wednesday night, we're expecting the main system to come in, and that's when we'll get some snow," said National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Brong. "Right now, it's pretty tough to say how much we would get down in Carson."

At least several inches of snow are expected to drop, continuing possibly into Friday.

"The big storm is up toward Alaska, and that's going to drop south and move in Wednesday night and Thursday. There's a good chance it will continue snowing as long as Friday night."

A storm moving inland from the California coast Tuesday was the cause of much of the light precipitation Tuesday in Northern Nevada. The same storm caused much of the heavy rain in Northern California through the day.

By Tuesday afternoon, slick roads and several accidents were reported in Washoe Valley and south Reno. Chains were required on mountain passes.

Tonight's storm system is expected to move from the area by New Year's Day, Brong said.

"There's just a small chance of snow through the New Year's Day weekend. Highs are expected in the upper 30s and low temperatures between 20 to 25."

The winter storms hitting the area are typical for the season.

"We'll get a series of storms, and then it'll be dry for a while and then we'll get another series of storms," he said.

Contact reporter Maggie Oneill at moneill@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.

ROAD CONDITIONS

For road conditions in Nevada:

Call (800) NV-ROADS or go to www.nevadadot.com/traveler/ on the Internet for updated road and weather conditions.

For California highway conditions, go to www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo.