No end in sight for hot weather in Carson area

The Carson City-Reno area broke heat records Tuesday just before skies darkened and a severe thunderstorm crawled through, starting several brush fires and bringing with it hail and pockets of rain.

Residents were warned to seek shelter as the storm passed from Douglas County to Reno. Lightning sparked several brush fires.

Before the dark clouds moved in, Carson City and Reno hit record highs when temperatures reached 104 degrees, breaking Carson's previous record of 100 and Reno's record of 103, the National Weather Service in Reno reported.

Residents in Northern Nevada have been under a blanket of heat with little wind for relief during the past week.

From window units to fans to full-blown air conditioning systems -- it continued to be a good time to sell anything to cool off.

Justin Anderson of Anderson Heating and Air Conditioning in Carson was dealing with a backlog of 72 calls for air-conditioning service.

"It's ridiculous," Anderson said. "I've been to 10 people's houses today to do estimates.

"A lot of these people have been saying they never thought they would need air conditioning," he said. "It's just to a point where they can't even deal with it any longer."

The family-owned business sold 13 air conditioners Monday for about $2,300 for each system. Sears in northern Carson had also sold several window units, fans and swamp coolers.

"Fans have been going like hot cakes," said sales associate Jeff Ramion. The store sold two window air conditioners in its first two hours of business Tuesday. "If I had the money, I'd buy two myself."

Residents cranked on their cooling systems across the area, causing a record day of usage Monday for Sierra Pacific Power Co. A record peak of 1,619 megawatts was recorded at 4 p.m. Monday. The past record of 1,590 megawatts was in July 2002 during a heat wave. One megawatt will power 600 homes and businesses at one time.

The power company issued its first "yellow alert" Monday, asking residents to voluntarily reduce their electricity usage, but lifted it Tuesday after a repair was made at the company's Valmy power plant on Interstate 80 between Battle Mountain and Winnemucca.

"Even though we're back to normal operations, we're still asking customers to conserve if they can," said Gary Aldax, spokesman for Sierra Pacific.

Carson City water usage during the past week is near critical levels, said Tom Hoffert, utilities operations manager. The city is using between 20 million to 22 million gallons of water per day. Critical usage is around 24 million gallons a day, Hoffert said.

Ground water levels are steadily declining from the use, Hoffert said. Water is being pulled from deeper aquifers.

"Anything (residents) can do to be conscious of water use and minimize any waste is really needed, but we haven't done any voluntary cutbacks or curbing of usage at this point," he said. "If demand can stay where it has been the last few days, we'll be OK, as long as no equipment failure or lightning takes out any wells or cause electrical outages."

Lightning-caused fires broke out in two places along Lake Tahoes's South Shore Tuesday after a short storm system brought rain, hail, thunder and lightning.

A small brush fire in the hills above Montgomery Estates was contained by U.S. Forest Service firefighters shortly after it broke out around 5:30 p.m. The 50-by-50-foot fire was between Cold Creek and Heavenly Valley. Firefighters equipped with chainsaws and hand tools knocked much of it down by 7 p.m.

Another fire near Cascade Lake had USFS fire crews working in tandem with a helicopter crew that dumped water on the flames. The by lightning-started was contained at about 6:30 p.m.

The weather service is calling for a chance of thunderstorms and showers again tonight and Thursday afternoon in the Carson area. It should then start to cool down slowly.

The storms "could help cool off a little bit," said NWS meteorologist Chris Jordan.

The forecast for tonight is partly cloudy in the evening with a chance of thunderstorms with locally heavy rain. Lows are expected to be 55 to 65 degrees.

Thursday is expected to be partly cloudy with a slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs will be from 88 to 98 degrees with light winds in the morning, increasing in the afternoon. A slight chance of thunderstorms is expected that evening.

The ridge of high-pressure over the Carson-Reno area the past week will then move slightly to the east, causing the slight cooling, Jordan said.

The high pressure won't be gone for long, however. It is expected to move back in and heat up the area again beginning Monday, he said.