It somehow seems ironically appropriate that the first weekend of summer vacation for Washoe County students will be the chilliest we have seen in nearly a month. A low pressure center will send its first cold front through the region early Friday, dropping our highs to about 70 on Friday and Saturday. A second colder front moves in Sunday, bringing a chance of valley rain and high mountain snow, resulting in a Reno High of only about 60. Monday stays chilly but things will clear out and warm back up to seasonable levels near 80 by midweek.

Donna asks: “Can you explain to me the difference in “Isolated” Thunderstorms and “Scattered” Thunderstorms in the weather forecasts?  I know what the 2 words mean but not how they apply to WHERE thunderstorms are expected to appear.”

Actually, neither implies where they might occur, it only implies how likely it is you will see one. Isolated means you have about a 10-15% chance of getting under one, whereas scattered means about 20-50% of the region will have a thunderstorm. In addition, scattered suggests there will be several groups of showers going on at the same time, whereas isolated showers tend to be loners, with no or few neighbors.