Mother Nature’s quirks had residents in the Lahontan Valley trading in their Easter bunnies for snow shovels and boots for a few days this week.
A low pressure formation that formed as a Tonopah low dumped snow in the Sierra and in central and western Nevada on Monday with intermittent showers predicted through late Wednesday morning or afternoon, said meteorologist Marvin Boyd of the National Weather Service in Reno. Boyd said this was the second storm of the season formed by the Tonopah Low. The NWS said a storm that dropped 6-7 inches of snow during the first few days of February in Churchill County was caused by the Tonopah Low, an upper cold low pressure system that forms in central Nevada and affects areas across the northern tier of the state with strong winds and precipitation.
“El Nino doesn’t have any correlation,” Boyd said of any outside influences. “We usually get one of these storms a year.”
Boyd said because of the most recent low, the storm roared into Nevada from the north, not from the west. He said the NWS is predicting Fallon and central Churchill County could be hit today with a mix of rain and snow with scattered showers Wednesday.
“People should be aware there could be a chance of up to 2 inches of snow,” Boyd added.
Unofficially, Fallon received between 1-3 inches of now on Monday — possibly more off the beaten track.
Boyd, though, has good news, The weather pattern will give Fallon sunny skies for the rest of the week with highs between the mid-60s and 70s with morning lows near freezing.
The Nevada Highway Patrol was busy with vehicle crashes in the Reno area and along the eastern range of the Sierra. The NHP also responded to three non-injury accidents in the Fallon-Fernley District, which included two single-vehicle rollovers and one rear-end crash. Local law enforcement reported very few incidents. The NHP reported it handled 25 crashes without injuries and eight with. Two crashes on U.S. Highway 395 north of Reno resulted in a closure of one hour. Several accidents between Lockwood and Mustang closed the westbound lanes of Interstate 80.
Locally, the Churchill County Sheriff’s Office reported a vehicle slid off the road, and Fallon Police Department said they had no accidents within city limits.