Our dry weather will continue for the next week, with some afternoon breezes and warm temperatures throughout. For Monday, some areas of smoke and haze could still pop up off and on through the day, but generally sunny and clear skies will bring a high in the mid-90s, temperatures and conditions that should remain fairly constant through the rest of the work week and into the weekend.

Matt asked: “Why do the nighttime lows (in Reno) seem to be less low than they used to be and, my main question, why does it seem that there is often a smaller difference between the highs and the lows than there used to be? I’ve been pondering this question for some time.” Ponder no more. The reason is almost entirely due to urban heat island effect… especially in the area around the Reno airport, which is where the official temperatures are recorded.

Average temperatures are calculated using a 30 year rolling average, and those averages are updated at the beginning of the decades. So our “average” Reno temperatures were determined using the period from 1980-2010. Tomorrow, I’ll tell you why that is important.