Area continues to see record highs despite clouds

Temperatures near 100 degrees persisted despite thunderstorms pushing over the Sierra, bringing with them wind, little rain and lightning that started a brush fire in Brunswick Canyon.

However, the storms did cool temperatures that earlier in the week peaked at 105.

On Friday, Carson City's temperature topped 99, beating the previous high for July 12, 98 degrees, set in 1999, said Chris Jordan, of the National Weather Service.

Even when it gets cool, it's still record-breaking hot. On Thursday night, Carson City set a record for the highest low temperature of the day at 73 degrees, beating by two degrees the 71-degree former hottest night set on Aug. 11, 1992, Jordan said.

With the heat and thunderstorms, though, come winds which are expected to last through the weekend.

Temperatures should continue to drop through the weekend as the high pressure system that settled over the West headed East. Temperatures today are expected to reach 96 and will taper to a low of 64. Sunday, the temperature is expected to hit 95 with lows again in the 60s.

The hot weather is taking its toll on farmers, who say the key to weathering the heat is to just keep getting water on their plants to keep them from over stressing.

"A human being wants to have shade and cool water, (but) plants are worse because they can't come in from outside," said James Settelmeyer, a Carson Valley rancher.

Settelmeyer said on his property, alfalfa, onions and garlic are grown for seed. He and those who lease property from him have to find ways to get more and more water on the plants. He has good water rights, he said, but for farmers who don't, it means making decisions -- sacrificing a field, cutting early or letting a crop go to seed -- that could affect the rest of the summer growing season.

Brenda Smith, of Dayton's Smith and Smith Farms, said she plants produce based on the weather. Early season vegetables -- lettuce, spinach and peas -- went to seed earlier than usual in the heat, but other plants, such as corn, are thriving with the warm weather.

"You have to be more diligent on watering," Smith said. "I make sure the water's on by noon, double water all the animals."

Weeds, however, don't appear to be affected at all by the heat, she noted.

"I wish they were," Smith said.