A construction crew works on improvements on U.S. Highway 50 (Williams Avenue) through Fallon on Sunday.
After another hot July, cooler weather is ringing in August with daytime highs in the lower to mid 90s and lows ranging in the 60s, reports the National Weather Service in Reno.
Naval Air Station Fallon recorded 18 days of 100 degrees or higher for July, a slight increase from 2021 when 17 days reached the century mark. The weather service, however, has used readings from the University of Nevada Experimentation Station since 1903 which had 24 days reaching a minimum of 100 degrees.
Fallon had eight consecutive days in the middle of July when temperatures reached 100 degrees or higher. A record of 105 degrees occurred July 16. Unofficially, the weather service said July 29 and 30 set records at 105 and 106 degrees, respectively.
Dawn Johnson, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno, said August will return to normal temperatures in the low to mid 90s.
“We’ll be staying toasty,” she said.
The outlook for water users in the Lahontan Valley is better this month than during August 2021. Lahontan Reservoir has under 80,000 acre-feet of water as of this week. One acre-foot equals about 326,000 gallons, or enough water to cover an acre of land. Lahontan Reservoir holds 308,000 acre feet.
According to the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District, the reservoir had 31,099 acre feet in 2021 during the same week, which caused water allocations to ease in mid-August, and 140,370 acre feet in 2020. TCID Watermaster Kelly Herwick said historically water users will use 50,000 acre-feet in August and 30,000 acre-feet in September.
The overall lack of precipitation since January, though, has widened the drought area in Nevada. The latest drought monitor compiled by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln show extreme conditions in northwestern Nevada and eastern and east-central Nevada. Severe drought conditions encompass central Nevada and most of Churchill, Pershing, Lander and Eureka counties and all of Lyon, Douglas and Storey counties and Carson City.
Exceptional drought conditions cover southern and southeastern Nevada,
In 2021, extreme drought gripped central Nevada, and severe drought covered parts of Northern Nevada. Extreme drought affected most of Clark, Esmeralda, Lincoln and Nye counties. Moderate and serve drought hugged most of Nevada in 2020.
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