Storm of the Century

It's been snowing in Reno for the past four days. I'm standing at a bus stop on snow that's covering a park bench which I'd normally sit on. Across the way a giant mound of show is piled up in front of the Taco Bell on Mae Anne Street. The pile is so high that, even though I'm at eye level with the restaurant, I can only see the arched purple/pink logo of their sign on the roof. It's 5:45am and dark except for the soft falling flakes of snow. The few cars that pass by have chains on their tires for winter travel. Some of the chains pound the thick, icy veneer on the streets like a jack hammer. Other cars with loose chains ring with a sound resembling violently shaken sleigh bells.

Several days ago the Mt. Rose Website listed the upcoming storm as "Winter's white wrath". They weren't kidding. We got approximately 4 Ft. of snow in Reno. With rain on Monday reducing the snowpack to about 3 Ft. throughout most of the valley. Up in the mountains the snow at some resorts is up to 20 Ft. high. The ski resorts are actually beginning to complain about too much snow!

It looks like the Sierra Nevada's have found out about our little desert secret in Reno and have started to spill their white precipitation into the valley. Two storms, one originating from southern California and one swooping down from the Pacific Northwest have converged between Sacramento and Reno to form the worst storm in almost a century (according to the local paper). I ventured out with the camera over the weekend to take a few pictures. Enjoy! (The later part of this week bring single digit temperatures).




Zoe running through a canyon of snow with Ting chasing


The last we saw of our picnic table


Some of these icicles are 4 to 5 foot in length


The snow was heavy enough to collapse all the carports in our apt complex