Mineral County residents woke up to 2023 to a blanket of snow on the ground as the forecasted atmospheric river heading into the Pacific Northwest delivered what it intended to do. This past New Year’s Eve, around 11 inches of snow fell around Mineral County and the south end of Lyon County, as an average of 5-11 inches fell below 5,000 feet and 11-20 inches of snow fell at higher elevations above 5,000 feet.
“That’s a good amount of snow for that area,” says National Weather Service Forecaster Justin Collins.
An average of five inches of snow fell in Mina (at a 4,500-ft. elevation) from this past storm.
Hawthorne Airport volunteer Betty Easley said that there were gusty winds throughout the past one weekend- one of them so intense that it blew a USPS mail truck over on its side last Friday (fortunately the driver was okay). Easley reported that there was a nice steady rain last Saturday that measured 0.6” inches of precipitation on her weather station before it turned to snow. She measured 6.5 inches of snow in her front yard on New Years Day, and Alum Canyon residents received over a foot.
Another system came in earlier this week, dropping a bit more precipitation this past Monday. Snowfall is expected to be isolated to the higher elevations towards the end of the week, with just a couple of inches of the white stuff predicted to fall on the mountaintops and a dusting of snow in town. As of this past Tuesday afternoon, the weather forecast oscillated between rain and snow all Wednesday and Thursday, with wind gusts as high as 25mph. Friday is expected to be sunny, with another chance of rain/snow coming in on Saturday.
Although we may see a break in the storm late this week, keep in mind that the temperatures will stay below freezing, and the roads will remain slick and icy.
