The Memorial Day weekend will finish on a summery note, with mostly sunny skies and high temperatures in the valleys near 90 degrees. That’s enough heat to possibly pop up some cumulus clouds over the mountains in the afternoon, but there’s only a slight chance of getting an isolated afternoon thunderstorm. Things stabilize on Tuesday, and the temperatures tail off just a bit before a weak low pressure system brings cooler temperatures and isolated showers to the region on Wednesday. That clears out quickly, and mostly sunny and warm temperatures return for the rest of the week.

Last week I wrote about the rainiest cities in the country. How about the driest cities in the country? How does Reno stack up on that scale?

Well, Reno doesn’t do too badly. The Biggest Little City slides in safely as the fourth driest city in the nation, with an average of about seven and a half inches of precipitation per year (this year notwithstanding). Topping the dry list is our neighbor to the south, Las Vegas, with only four and a half inches of rain annually. Vegas is followed by Bakersfield, CA; Winslow, AZ; Reno; Phoenix, AZ; Winnemucca, NV; Yakima, WA; Grand Junction, CO; Albuquerque, NM; and El Paso, TX.