Warmer weather for the week, despite Monday’s storm

It feels like winter weather keeps clinging on but warmer days are ahead, according to the National Weather Service in Reno.

Although there were no records for a low, Monday’s high in Carson City was 60 degrees with a low of 44.

Mornings will continue to be chilly throughout the rest of the week, said NWS

Carson City is looking at high 60s and 70s in the beginning of the week; today, the high is expected to reach 75.

As for the weekend, the area is expecting to reach highs in the 80s and 90s—about a 40 degree difference in one week.

But after the historical storm the region experienced this year, the NWS said it’s normal for a chilly June.

Measurable snowfall happens every five to 10 years in the mountains, especially following active winters, extending to late spring and early summer.

At 6,800 feet, 6 inches of snow fell Sunday night into Monday, said NWS. Chain controls were required on Donner Pass and along I-80, Sunday night into Monday morning.

Although the NWS is keeping an eye out for next week’s forecast, don’t feel discouraged about the summer clothes in the closet.

However, it’s probably beneficial to keep a warm sweater on its hanger.

Around the region, National Weather Service Meteorologist Mike Kochasic says Mammoth Mountain recorded about an inch of snow between Sunday and Monday morning while two locations in Kingvale logged 5 and 6 inches of snow. At the Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows resort in Lake Tahoe, there are plans to keep the slopes open past the Fourth of July for the first time in its history, the Associated Press reported.

At Mammoth Mountain Ski Report, the slopes will remain open until August.

The snow and spring runoff is proving deadly throughout the west. Record snowfall on towering Western peaks this winter virtually eliminated California’s five-year drought and it is now melting rapidly.

But it has contributed to at least 14 river deaths and prompted officials to close sections of rivers popular with swimmers, rafters and fishing enthusiasts.

This year’s velocity and force of the Merced River that runs through Yosemite Valley is similar to a runaway freight train, said Moose Mutlow of the Yosemite Swift Water Rescue Team.

“You step out in front of it, it’s going to take you,” he said. “You’re not going to stop that, and that’s what people need to get their heads around.”

Heavy storms this winter covered the central Sierra Nevada mountains with snow that remains at twice its normal level for this time of year.

While officials celebrated an end to drought in much of California, the snowmelt is so dangerous that park rangers fear its impact on the crowded park that drew a record five million people last year, when four people drowned.

So far this year, one 50-year-old man is believed to have drowned at Yosemite after falling into the Merced River from a winding trail. His body has not been found.

Elsewhere in California, there have been at least 11 drownings since the snowpack started melting in May.

Rising temperatures have prompted officials to erect a sign next to the Truckee River warning people to stay away from it.

On his first trip to Yosemite, cartoonist Andy Runton, 42, steered clear of the turbulent Merced River.

He took a selfie at a safe distance from a grassy meadow with Yosemite Falls far behind him. Within a few hours of entering the park, Runton said the sweeping vistas and raging waterfalls had left a lifelong impression.

“You can see the power of the water,” Runton said. “You can feel it. Nature doesn’t slow down.”