Heavy Rain — Washoe, Nevada

2023-05-02 to 2023-05-03 · near (rno)cannon Arpt Ren, Washoe, Nevada

Event narrative

A trained spotter located 4.0 mi SSW of Reno, NV, reported a 24 hour rainfall total of 1.04 inches, as well as one inch storm total snowfall.

Wider weather episode

A low that settled into the west coast the first few days of May brought showers and an increased chance (20-30%) of thunderstorms that also lowered rain-snow lines to 5500-7000 feet by early morning 3 May. Stronger showers and storms produced a mix of rain, snow, and ice pellets which lead to runoff issues in the lower elevations. High end chances (10-20%) of rainfall totals were expected to reach 0.50-1.00 inch. Although snow was projected to fall in the Sierra, the combination of warm road temperatures and the early May sun angle limited accumulations on paved surfaces. But bursts of convective heavy snow showers and/or snow occurring during the overnight hours were expected to bring overnight travel impacts to mountain passes. Tightening thermal and pressure gradients with the incoming low produced gusty south-southeast winds and travel impacts for portions of Churchill, Mineral, Lyon, and Mono Counties along US-395 and US-95.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.4465, -119.7987)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1102023. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.