Space X launch provides flourish to Western Nevada skies

A SpaceX launch left a noctilucent cloud visible in the eastern sky over Western Nevada.
Photo by Michael Troutner

A SpaceX launch left a noctilucent cloud visible in the eastern sky over Western Nevada. Photo by Michael Troutner

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A Space X launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California produced a noctilucent cloud visible in the eastern sky over Western Nevada.

The launch of the Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 Starlink satellites occurred at 6:07 a.m. leaving what looked like an iridescent brush stroke in the morning sky just before sunrise.

While unusual, the cloud was no competition for the orange, pink and red in the morning sunrise.

A low pressure system is dropping south into Western Nevada that will bring increased northeast bands of light to moderate snow showers through Saturday and Sunday, according to National Weather Service Reno Meteorologist Amanda Young.

“Measurable snowfall chances of 50-60 percent for something up to an inch or two extends from the Sierra Front east into west-central Nevada,” Young said. “Higher …  terrain areas like around the eastern Lake Tahoe Basin, the Virginia Range that includes Virginia City, and the eastern Sierra into Mono-Southern Lyon-Mineral counties have at least a 30-40 percent chance for 5-8 inches of storm total snowfall.”

Young said most of the local effects of the storm will be confined east of the Sierra Crest with a chance of slick conditions on routes south of Highway 50.

The high temperature is forecast to be near 33 degrees under cloudy skies with a low early Sunday morning of 13 degrees. Early Monday morning is forecast to drop to 9 degrees.

Winds are expected to pick up to 20-30 mph in most Western Nevada valleys over the weekend.

Weather conditions are expected to clear by Monday morning and then warm back up by the middle of the week.

“This will result in a return to dry weather conditions, lighter winds, and strengthening of valley inversions,” Young said. “Temperatures will also gradually warm as well, with daytime highs warming back into the more seasonal 40s and 50 degrees from midweek onward.”