Winter Storm
Well, the winter storm in eastern Nevada happened
and it was pretty cool. And then it was cold. I woke up to some light snow and
by the time we left it was snowing pretty heavily. While driving east from Ely
on US-6-50-93 there was maybe two inches on the road and no sign sign of plows
or even very much traffic. The snow was really dumping on Connor's Pass and I
crept over the pass at about 30 miles per hour especially on the estern downhill
side. At the chain up area at Major's Junction (where US-93 splits and runs
south to Pioche and Las Vegas), a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper was turning the
"chains or snow tires" required sign for westbound traffic. The snow gradually
diminished as we started the winter raptor survey driving north on NV-893. That
paved road serves a few ranches and in places had probably two to three inches
of snow on it. I imagine the ranchers are pretty tough and they very rarely get
their road plowed.
Over the course of
the day, the clouds gradually thinned and lifted. We didn't see (or hear) any
thundersnow, but huge snow showers would roll across Snake and Spring Valleys.
The wind picked up from the north and literally evaporated (technically the
sublimated directly from solid to gaseuous form) the snow and the temperature
never got higher than the mid 20°s. From some of the snow showers you could
see a long white paths of fresh snow along the ground.
We finished the last raptor survey as
the sun was setting over the Schell Creek range. We drove north through one
final dark and ominous snow shower and burst out into a clear and darkening
starry night. We followed a snowy dirt road along the Pony Express trail over
the mountains, nearly clobbering a trio of mule deer that ran onto the road. By
the time we got to the motel in Ely it was 13° and when I got up the next
morning it was -3° and a bright sunny day.
Posted: Thu - February 16, 2006 at 09:13 PM