High winds pretty common here

Trees were toppling into power lines on Monday as hurricane force winds blasted through Carson Valley during a two-day windstorm that just seemed to keep ramping up.

You’d think any trees that were going to fall would have done so over the winter, but recent spring rains have softened the ground.

First responders including firefighters, deputies and power company personnel were out across the Valley dealing with outages, downed trees and branches.

There were as of 10 a.m. Monday, at least three reports of power lines into homes, including one off Centerville Lane that firefighters said was arcing.

That was just one of several reports of transformers arcing across the Valley as NVEnergy.com reported around 7,500 homes and businesses without power. Despite continued winds, the power company was able to get most of the outages cleared by lunchtime.

Semi trucks were self-stopping along Highway 88 where a flying bale of hay reportedly broke the windshield of a vehicle near Dressler Lane.

While a wind gust of 81 mph only qualifies for a Category 1 hurricane, it’s fairly impressive and it brought its 70 mph cousins along to play.

While flying debris and fallen trees are indeed dangers on these windy days, a far more challenging issue is the chance a fire breaks out.

There were multiple reports of arcing power lines and transformers on Monday. But those same rains that softened up the ground helped keep it and the vegetation wet enough to prevent a wildfire.

May is officially Nevada Wildfire Awareness Month in Douglas County and folks are working to clear defensible space around their homes.

While these 80 mph windstorms are more common in winter and spring, we’ve seen high winds in Western Nevada across the calendar, and next time we might not have some April showers to help dampen the vegetation.