Hail hits Carson City and South Lake Tahoe

Hail bounced off the roof and roads in the Lake Tahoe Basin around 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Although rain had started 20 to 25 minutes earlier, hail "probably the size of beans" was dropping on the U Consign It shop in South Lake Tahoe, said owner Inga Luke.

Lake Tahoe seemed to be the center for the heavy rains and hail that passed through Western Nevada and dropped scattered showers on Carson City.

Neva Roberts, an office manager for Allied Heating Inc. in South Lake, said they were warned by one of their employees working on the Nevada side of the lake to prepare for a storm.

"Five minutes later we got it," said Roberts, who described the hail as quarter-inch pellets. The gutters were flooding at the shop, and the rain and hail came down fairly heavily.

Roberts said the horizon was dark and the precipitation was steady.

"We're kind of enjoying it," said Roberts, a resident of the area for more than 40 years. "The forest needs to be soaked."

Incline Village saw 10 minutes of hail a few hours earlier, while Round Hill had little rain. At Stateline, large raindrops fell for a while but around 4 p.m., the sun peeked through.

The National Weather Service in Reno reported that quarter-inch sized hail fell for about five minutes in Glenbrook.

Hail forms when water particles and ice molecules join together. If the ice molecules become too heavy for the rising air to support them and contain them within the clouds, hail falls, according to Chris Jordan of the weather service.

Today will be partly cloudy with isolated showers and scattered thunderstorms. Carson City will hit 86 degrees; Reno, 88 degrees; and South Lake Tahoe, 78 degrees.

Friday will be partly cloudy and drier. Temperatures will reach 89 degrees in Carson City; 91 degrees in Reno; and 82 degrees in South Lake Tahoe.

The weekend offers scattered showers and thunderstorms with high-70s at the lake and mid-90s in the valley. Temperatures will rise a bit.

Not until the middle of next week will temperatures push 100 degrees. Although it will be hot, temperatures are expected to level out around 100 degrees and not push any of the recent record breakers the area has seen.

In South Lake Tahoe, a bolt of lightning split a tree and left a hole in the asphalt at Tahoe Valley campground.

A 65-year-old man walking to his car to roll up its windows fell to the ground and was taken to Barton Memorial Hospital. He was one of 24 campers. The hospital was unable to release additional information.

Jim Brewer, a clerk at the campground, said the rain and hail had been pretty heavy all day. The campground, one block west of the intersection of Routes 50 and 89, had been experiencing heavy rain and hail.

"A clap of thunder and lightning occurred all at the same time and it really cracked," Brewer said.

Someone ran in to the camp store and said to call 911. Brewer said the man was hit by the lightning bolt. Brewer said the lightning and thunder had not been severe, except for the one thunderclap. He had since heard the individual was reviving and the hospital staff were to examine him.