Rare June rain offers some relief

An uncommon summer rain system moving across the Sierra into Nevada should provide some relief from drought, especially across a band of Northern Nevada where extreme drought conditions are reported.

Light rain began falling Sunday night in areas of Carson City and western Nevada and should continue into today, according to the National Weather Service said Monday.

NWS meteorologist Alex Hoon said the Tahoe Basin should get up to an inch of rain. It might not sound like much, but it comes at a time when there’s typically little if any rain.

Hoon said it’s because a lack of high pressure allowed remnants of a tropical storm in Asia to drift farther south than usual. Typically, a ridge of high pressure would build and push the moisture north into Canada and Alaska, he said.

As of June 19, the U.S. Agriculture Department had declared all counties bordering the California-Nevada line natural drought disaster areas. Moderate to extreme drought persists in most all of Nevada and eastern California.

The most extreme situation in Nevada is in east-central Washoe, southern Humboldt, southwest Elko, northwest White Pine, northern Mineral, eastern Lyon, most of Eureka and all of Pershing, Lander and Churchill counties, the weather service said.