Winter Storm (Finally)
Finally, I may get to see some winter weather.
I'm up in Ely this week for winter raptor surveys and a major winter storm is
supposed to blow in tomorrow. Since the surveys are from the inside of a
vehicle, I'm looking forward to seeing some weather. We've had such a mild
winter both here up north and in Vegas. Vegas has been in the 70s and last week
Aaron and I were doing pygmy rabbit surveys in shirt sleeves and seeing lizards
running around in the high desert of what is normally one of the coldest places
in the contiguous United States.
Today
we surveyed Railroad Valley which is a remote valley that is slightly lower
(4,500 feet) and warmer than the area around Ely. By mid-afternoon temperatures
had peaked in the lower 60s and we spotted several sagebrush lizards run across
the road. Since we finished our route early, Debbie and I drove southwest on US
6 to visit some very impressive volcanic craters and then got into Ely about
5:30 PM. Even though it was dark already, it was still in the mid 50s.
Tomorrow should be totally different.
A mass of arctic air is supposed to sweep into Nevada tonight. Typically arctic
air is dense and heavy and quite a thin layer so it is easily blocked by
mountain ranges. However, with Nevada's many mountain ranges that all run from
north to south, this cold air will push down the long valleys deep to the south.
Ely is expecting the high tomorrow to be 23° colder than today. We should
go from a high of 53° to a high of 30° and from a low of 20° to a
low of -1°. Also, the cold air will run under the warmer air, lifting it
and cooling it. Cooler air can hold less moisture, so the moisture will drop out
as snow. This storm is strong enough to cause enough lifting to cause
thunderstorms which are unusual in the winter. There isn't a lot of moisture
here in North America's largest desert for too much snow accumulation but
northern Nevada has a snow advisory. Here in eastern Nevada we hopefully won't
get too much snow for our surveys in Spring and Snake Valley's tomorrow. I'm so
excited for some weather finally!
Posted: Tue - February 14, 2006 at 10:10 PM