Flooding occurred from a series of storms that started out as snow but then turned to rain. Heavy wet snow fell first leaving up to 2 feet of snow on the valley floors. This was followed by a period of very cold temperatures which froze the snow. Then from December 25 to 27, a warm rain fell that melted the snow. The Carson Valley was described as a lake, but little damage was reported since at that time most of the settlements were located out of the valley along the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada. In Carson City a sawmill located in Ash Canyon was swept away. In both Empire and in Dayton, drownings were reported, and buildings, bridges and a stamp mill were swept away.
Meteorological:
Type of event: snow/frozen ground/rain
Description:
No recorded precipitation is available. Information is anecdotal. A heavy wet snow deposited around two feet of snow along the valley floors. Very cold temperatures followed thereby freezing the snow and soil beneath. This was followed by a warm rainstorm from December 25 until December 27, 1861 (Rigby and others, 1998).
References:
Rigby, J.G., Crompton, E.J., Berry, K.A., Yildirim, U., Hickman, S.F., and Davis, D.A., 1998, The 1997 New Year's Floods in Western Nevada; Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Special Publication 23, p. 81.
Hydrologic Data:
No Hydrologic Data available.
Photos:
No Photos Available.
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