Winter weather comes on strong

It was the bad hair day to top all bad hair days.

The rain came sideways, whipped by gusts of wind that blew down power lines and made a straight line difficult to manage in a sport utility vehicle. But the worst had passed by late afternoon, with a 20 percent chance of showers and snow overnight and into today.

By Friday things are expected to clear up with a chance of showers as the current storm system passes. The weather-weary will be granted a temporary reprieve on Saturday until the clouds return Sunday.

The most significant effect of Wednesday's rain and intense early morning wind was 45-minute power outage in the middle of Carson City.

"A line was down and the outage occurred at Second and Valley (streets)," Sierra Pacific Power Co. spokesman Karl Walquist said. "It affected about 1,100 customers in the vicinity."

Workers cordoned off the area around the live wire.

The problem was resolved for most customers in 45 minutes when workers switched service from a different circuit. Approximately 15 minutes after that, the remaining customers were back on line.

Drainage on the valley floor flowed smoothly, said City Engineer Larry Werner. Crews spent most of the day hunting for drains with leaf accumulations and raking them out. "There have been no complaints or calls, so that's a good sign," he said.

Throughout the day, the National Weather Service received reports of mild street floods throughout the region, mostly in Washoe and Jacks valleys.

Early morning wind peaked in Washoe Valley at 87 knots. Mount Rose recorded gusts of 111 knots.

Expected clear skies on Saturday should mean excellent weekend ski conditions in the Sierra. On Wednesday, Kirkwood had to close due to "white-out blizzard conditions" that dropped an estimated 8 inches of fresh snow at the higher elevations by midday. By Wednesday morning, the resort is expecting a total of 18 inches of snow.

Heavenly recorded 5 inches by Wednesday afternoon. On Echo Summit, 2 inches were reported and in Meyers 3 inches by Wednesday afternoon.

The snow level dropped to 4,500 feet Wednesday night with an expected low of 23 degrees.