After our little dalliance with some wintry weather to start the week, it looks like we will start the next with a realistic shot at triple digit temperatures. A very strong and warm ridge of high pressure will boost temperatures into the low 90s on Friday, the mid-90s by Sunday, and a realistic shot at 100 by Monday and Tuesday. The overall flow pattern is fairly stable, so even with these very warm temperatures it’s not likely that we will see thunderstorms here in Reno, although an isolated thunderstorm in the mountains south of Lake Tahoe could be possible by the end of the weekend.

When we last met I mentioned that precipitation and storms happen when air moves upward. Now while what I wrote is technically correct, it still didn’t answer why rising air should make a difference. To fully explain, you first need to look at water. It can exist in three forms: Vapor, liquid and solid (ice). For our purposes, we’ll lump liquid and solid together. The trick is getting water from liquid, to vapor, and back to liquid. Tomorrow, I’ll begin that journey.