A splitting storm system will delay any precipitation to late Saturday across the region, but will keep our winds very strong Friday and Saturday. A Wind Advisory has been posted for the valleys of western Nevada Friday morning through Saturday afternoon. Southwest winds could gust as high as 50 mph through that time period. By late Saturday, a cold front moves through the region bringing mountain snow and a chance of valley rain or snow. Temperatures and snow levels drop Sunday with scattered snow likely and minor valley accumulations possible.

This is the time of year when we can get some pretty good showers on the west side of the mountains with the aforementioned high winds (not a lot of fun to ride a motorcycle in). But it dries out pretty fast as soon as you go east from the foothills, thanks to a strong rain shadow.

Many are confused about how a rain shadow works. It’s often described as “all the rain getting squeezed out over the mountains, so there’s none left for us here in the valley,” but that’s really not what’s happening. I’ll tell you what is happening tomorrow.