Climate in Reno

averaging 21.5 inches (55 cm) annually. Snowfall varies with the lowest amounts (roughly 19–23 inches annually) at the lowest part of the valley at and east of the Reno–Tahoe International Airport at 4,404 feet (1,342 m), while the foothills of the Carson Range to the west ranging from 4,700 to 5,600 feet (1,400 to 1,700 m) in elevation just a few miles west of downtown can receive up to two to three times as much annual snowfall. The mountains of the Virginia Range to the east can receive more summer thunderstorms and precipitation, and around twice as much annual snowfall above 5,500 feet (1,700 m). However, Snowfall increases in the Virginia Range are less dramatic as elevation climbs than in the Carson Range to the west, because the Virginia Range is well within the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada and Carson Range. The most snowfall in the city in one year was 63.8 inches (162 cm) in 1971, and the most snowfall in one month was 29.0 inches (74 cm) in March 1952.

Most rainfall occurs in winter and spring. The city has 300 days of sunshine per year. Summer thunderstorms can occur between April and October. The eastern side of town and the mountains east of Reno tend to be prone to thunderstorms more often, and these storms may be severe because an afternoon downslope west wind, called a "Washoe Zephyr", can develop in the Sierra Nevada, causing air to be pulled down in the Sierra Nevada and Reno, destroying or preventing thunderstorms, but the same wind can push air upwards against the Virginia Range and other mountain ranges east of Reno, creating powerful thunderstorms.

The monthly daily average temperature ranges from 35.3 °F (1.8 °C) in December to 74.9 °F (23.8 °C) in July, with the diurnal temperature variation reaching 35 °F (19 °C) in summer, still lower than much of the