Why is reno windy

Jason Geddes, who oversees renewable energy projects for the Washoe County School District, agrees: "With the basin and mountain terrain, we just get a lot of wind gusts that make very few sites in Nevada viable for large commercial wind turbines.

Geddes used to work for the City of Reno, where he wanted to try something out: if Nevada isn't a good fit for large wind farms, went the thinking, perhaps smaller turbines could work — and maybe even slash the city's energy bill. So, he oversaw a pilot program that installed eight turbines on different government properties, including Reno City Hall.

The two on that property disappointed him. That's because when buildings are in close proximity, as they are in the city, they form a sort of barricade that disrupts the wind's natural patterns. Either the wind blows too hard in the case of high-rises and skyscrapers or too soft in the case of high-density residential neighborhoods. So, urban settings are mostly a no-go. But in suburban settings, it's a different story. Outside the city, where buildings are fewer and farther between, the winds have room to roam.

They're working well not just for municipalities in suburban settings, but also for some suburban homeowners, like Marsha Cardinal. Rising high into the sky above Cardinal's backyard is her very own turbine. She's proud to show it off and walk through its installation: "You mount everything on the ground," said Cardinal, pointing to the concrete and rebar foundation required by Washoe County.

It lifted it up, lifted up the nacelle," said Cardinal, referring to the enclosure that houses the turbine's electrical components. If the words "backyard wind turbine" make you think of a mini-golf course, think again: Cardinal's stands 34 feet tall, from the base to the top of the main shaft, which holds three rotor blades.

Marsha Cardinal stands beneath her backyard wind turbine. With its towering height and scythe-shaped rotor blades, Cardinal's turbine looks much like the kind you'd find at a big commercial wind farm, just at a smaller scale.

Because it's smaller, it generates far less power, but still enough to reduce the carbon footprint of Cardinal and her husband, which is why she bought it in the first place — to help the environment. The turbine has been up and running for about 10 years, though, so many of those costs have been recouped through energy savings.

When asked what she means by 'almost': "It's probably another 10 or 15 years. We'll probably be dead by then," she said with a laugh. Slowly but surely, it is paying off for Cardinal. And that's the thing: there's a big difference between a homeowner who just hopes her turbine pays for itself in the long term and a power company that wants its turbines to turn a profit in the short term. Those figures show Reno peaks in April with an average wind speed of 8.

Reno's average wind speed for a year is 6 mph. But average wind speed isn't necessarily a good indicator whether a city is windy, weather service meteorologist Jessica Kielhorn noted. In a typical winter, Reno will have three to six downslope wind storms with winds of 50 mph or more, Kielhorn said.

These are caused when winds normally higher in the atmosphere are pushed down the western side of the Sierra. These winds can damage property but don't do much to change averages.

Places with higher average wind speeds than Reno may not routinely experience any winds like the downslope wind storms that Reno gets every winter, Kielhorn said.

The months of early spring are the windiest for Reno because that's when there's the greatest difference between air at the higher altitudes, which is still cold, and air near the ground, which is heating up, Oakley said. At higher altitudes, the winds mix and what meteorologists call "downward mixing of momentum" forces the winds to the surface.

Conversely, there's less wind in winter in part because the ground doesn't heat as much due to shorter days and snow on the ground. Reno's average January wind speed is less than half of what it is in April. View detailed profile Advanced or search site with Search Forums Advanced. I have a job interview toward the end of this week for a job in Reno. I have read a lot of the posts regarding Reno and the only one that might be a concern is the wind.

It sounds like it can get bad. Are there any cities maybe back toward Tahoe or Truckee that are close enough to commute from AND are less windy? Sure, Truckee and Tahoe both work. The winds in Reno are partly the result of the downslope effect, and some parts of Reno are windier than others, as you get out away from the Carson and Verdi Ranges it is a common mistake to think that one can see the Sierra Nevada Range from Reno, it actually lies on the west of Lake Tahoe and west of Donner Lake you get away from the downslope winds.

The difference in windiness between the area around McQueen high school and Sparks can be remarkable. Fernley can be less windy also. Originally Posted by Clarks. Although, seems to me East Washoe Valley is worse than west. Sometimes on a spring day horses blow away. Mark Twain remarked on the Washoe breezes, he referred to them as the Washoe zephyr. He said a common past time was flying barn doors as kites. I don't know if you are a boater, if you are, keep in mind that Pyramid Lake is a great lake to boat in, but that the winds there can be deadly.

Where ever you are coming from, you will love it in Reno, if you are an outdoorsman, if you are an indoors person, you may as well be in Cleveland.

If you join the Reno Ski Club, you will meet good people and have fun. Don't mind the wind, it keeps the air breathable, in winter when the wind doesn't blow, the air gets pretty stagnant "intermountain valley inversion layer" We sail, we knew the wind would pop up about PM, it would chase the power boats off the lake and leave it for us sailors.

Tahoe and Truckee aren't dependable commutes in the winter. There will be plenty of days when you will not be able to get down or back up the commute due to snow and ice.

And when storms are coming in or leaving, there's plenty of wind in Tahoe or Truckee. Wind is just part of living in the intermountain west. If you really don't want wind, then you need to rethink where you're going to live. I commuted from Truckee to Reno 5 days a week for 23 years.