Things will warm up over the weekend as we find ourselves between storm systems. Skies on Saturday and Sunday will range from mostly sunny to partly cloudy, with Reno high temperatures climbing into the upper 40s Saturday and into the mid-50s Sunday. A very cold arctic storm drops down out of the northwest at the start of next week, bringing a chance of scattered snow showers Monday and Tuesday with high temperatures only in the 30s by Tuesday. After a break Wednesday, a warmer storm system moves into the region Thursday and Friday.

As I mentioned yesterday, if you had enough money when you first installed your home irrigation system, winterizing should be a snap. But some of us put ours in on the cheap. And while the cost savings are nice, it might expose the system to freezing if it isn’t properly winterized.

Once you shut off the water to your sprinklers and drip system, disconnect the pipe downstream from the shut-off, and allow the water to initially find its own level. If you have a screw plug at the end of your system, uncap it. Find an air compressor, and blow the lines out as best you can. You’d be surprised how well that works… even if you don’t get all the water out of the lines. There still might be some left in some low spots underground, but if they are buried a foot or more, they should survive even the coldest winter out here. Just make sure any exposed pipes are dry.