John Potter
Channel 2 News
There will come a day when this very cool, wet weather will end. It won't be a day too soon for plant expert Roxanne Martin. The unseasonably wet weather is putting a damper on business at the Rail City Garden Center. "You know, nobody likes to dig in wet soil, so we're just waiting for it to dry out a little bit."
Nevada gardeners have seen their share of cold rainy planting seasons, but this one beats all. There's the man who's been replacing and replanting every week. "And he put out his squash too early in the season, it got bit. He did his peppers, they got bit so he comes back every weekend and buys more stuff. But he's learning…he just won't give up."
At the same time, rivers are raging. And ponds have more than plenty, like the one at Paradise Park at Oddie and El Rancho, flooding out the park road and even the picnic tables.
At the National Weather Service, Senior Hydrologist Gary Barbato has been watching our weather for 18 years now, stunned at the wet, soggy late spring. "This is a very unusual situation. We have had between one and two inches of rainfall over the last 24 hours, which is very rare for this time of year."
Records are falling. Reno's rain on Sunday was over an inch, was the most on that day since 1913. And less than a week in, we're already into our 11th wettest June ever, with four weeks left to go to grab the top spot:
Wettest Junes:
1- 1920: 1.94"
2- 1989: 1:53"
3- 2009: 1:52"
4- 2011: 1:25" (so far)
Gary says we'll be warmer and definitely drier by Wednesday. But those upcoming warm days will add even more water to the river. The snowpack is still hefty, and once the warm rays hit it, the snowmelt could push the rapids even higher. Gary says, "Once we get up into the 80's down here, it's going to start coming off pretty quick, and we're expecting that to start this weekend."
A June to remember, or as some call it, "June-uary." It's weather only a hydrologist could love.
