A much warmer and calmer week is ahead of us, as a ridge of high pressure builds onshore and stays nearly through the week. Mostly sunny skies (with a few afternoon clouds) will cover the area through Friday as temperatures warm to the low 60s Wednesday, the upper 60s by Friday and could hit 70 over the weekend. By the beginning of next week, the ridge breaks down and could allow a storm to move through on Monday, dropping the temperatures back into the 50s.

Chuck Lacy sent me the following query: “I’ve lived in Carson Valley since 1990 and have noticed one thing that’s pretty constant, and that is that the winter weather in eastern Nevada is always quite a bit colder and gets more snow than we do out here in the west. I don’t believe it’s the elevation, with Elko about the same elevation as our area (just over 5,000 feet) and Ely about the same as Tahoe. So, can you explain the dynamics of this phenomenon for me?” There are a couple of reasons, and I’ll dive in starting tomorrow.