Lahontan Reservoir’s level has slowly dropped during the late summer.
While most of the Great Basin and San Joaquin Valley baked with record temperatures exceeding the century mark, the Lahontan Valley escaped the constant heat for most of August and for the first two weeks of September.
For the last two days of August and the first week of September, Fallon reached or exceeded 100 degrees twice with the only records being recorded last week. The temperature was 104 on Sept. 5 and then 106 on Sept. 6. At the end of July, Fallon had recorded 106-degree day.
Compared to the 37 days of 100-degree temperatures or higher in 2021, the Lahontan Valley had 33 days where the temperature met or exceeded triple digits.
According to the National Weather Service records for July and August, no morning temperatures broke any records. Temperatures for the rest of September are expected to be within the normal range with highs fluctuating between the mid-to-upper 70s to low 90s. Near the end of September 2021, Fallon experienced daytime highs in the mid-60s.
Up until this week, Fallon has received little precipitation, but the Truckee Carson Irrigation District was able to prolong water deliveries until October because of some precipitation in mid-July
Although Lahontan Reservoir looks dry, the number of acre-feet is higher now than at this time in 2021. Earlier this week, the reservoir had 32,290 acre-feet of water compared to 5,504 acre-feet one year ago. In 2020, the reading was 76,004 acre-feet.
Watermaster Kelly Herwick said the Truckee Canal will not be shut down until Nov. 1 for a scheduled one-year repair on the system, and because of that slight delay, allocations have been raised to 100% with the last delivery date of Oct. 25.
Herwick said the 85% allocation remains for water users in the Carson Division, but the last day for water allocations in Oct. 7.
