While it won’t be at record levels, the temperatures this weekend will be up in mid-summer form. The ridge of high pressure will move from just offshore to onshore Saturday, boosting the high temperatures in the valley to the low 90s. They will hang in that range on Sunday before a weak low pressure center brings a cold front through the region, dropping us back into the mid-70s for most of next week. Skies should stay mostly sunny Saturday, while a few clouds will move in Sunday through Tuesday, although the chance for any rainfall is very slim.

Every now and then, the local Reno office of the National Weather Service (NWS) will give tours of their facility to local groups. It’s a good time to get a look at how these guys and gals apply the “science and art” that is meteorology. If you haven’t heard me mention it in the past, I have the greatest respect for my friends at the NWS who work for us 24/7, often without thanks. Of course, working in this business, I realize that none of us tend to get feedback when the forecasts are right, but for their sake, some attaboys are in order.

On a related note, I am always a bit confused by the attitude of some of my colleagues in broadcast meteorology across the country who tend to downplay the role the NWS plays in their forecasting, some even going so far as to brag that they never even look at the NWS products. I suppose that many of them purposefully ignore the forecasts the NWS puts out so they can “do their own,” apparently believing they can “do” a better job. Fortunately, theirs is not a universally held attitude, but it happens enough that I feel I have to comment on it.

Many ask me if I use the National Weather Service to help me with my forecasts, and without hesitation I say “yes.” As smart as I might think I am (a premise questioned by many reading this little missive), it would be downright foolish, not to mention very arrogant, to think that I can “out-forecast” the very qualified meteorologists who work 24 hours a day pondering the intricacies of our weather. They are awesome partners with which to work.