After a stretch of warm weather, cooler weather will be moving in for the last days of March. Tuesday, March 25th was the warmest day yet of 2025, reaching a high of 80 degrees at the Reno airport, and missing the record by one degree.
High pressure is keeping the storm track up to our north for now, but as the ridge moves east it will allow for a low pressure system to move towards the Pacific Northwest, increasing our winds, and giving the Sierra a chance for light snow.
A High Wind Watch is posted for much of northern Nevada, including the Truckee Meadows from Thursday morning through Thursday evening.
Wednesday will be breezy as well, but not as bad as Thursday. Wind gusts will be in the 30’s Wednesday afternoon, and staying around 30mph overnight into Thursday. By Thursday late morning, wind gusts will be topping 50mph in wind prone areas. This is strong enough to break tree branches and delay flights. Make sure to keep both hands on the steering wheel through Friday. Wind gusts on Friday will still be gusting over 30mph but staying lower than Thursday. The wind will also blow around dust, lowering visibility. Tight pressure gradients between high and low pressure systems leads to strong winds.
Reno will be dry overall, but scattered rain chances will develop in northern California on Thursday, transitioning over to snow showers late Thursday evening. Our mountain passes will be slick at night, but mainly wet during the day. Snow totals will be less than four inches between now and Friday…