Warnings Issued in Nevada as Temperatures Plunge Below Freezing

A stock photo of a fallen leaf in the grass at sunrise, covered in early morning frost in the first days of winter. A late-season cold front will cause temperatures in Nevada to plunge below freezing on Monday night.

National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists have issued several cold weather advisories for Nevada as temperatures threaten to plunge below freezing on Monday night.

The frigid temperatures are associated with a cold front that is bringing late-season mountain snow to the Northwest this week. Cold temperatures arrived on Sunday, and the NWS office in Elko, Nevada, expects a warming trend to begin on Tuesday. The cold front occurs as the Midwest and Northeast face the first heat wave of the season, pushing temperatures to dangerous levels.

A hard freeze warning and a frost warning, as well as several other cold weather advisories, are in place across the northern half of Nevada. The warnings are in place overnight Monday and are expected to expire by 8 a.m. local time on Tuesday morning.

"For the Hard Freeze Warning, sub-freezing temperatures as low as 27 expected. For the Frost Advisory, temperatures as low as 35 will result in frost formation," the NWS warned. "Frost and freeze conditions will kill crops, other sensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing. Please cover or bring in sensitive plants."

NWS meteorologist Clair Ketchum told Newsweek that the biggest threat from the system would be to gardeners and farmers who have sensitive crops planted outside.

"We have people who do outdoor gardening; I know there are some folks that plant vegetables and fruits that are susceptible to cold weather, so they could potentially lose their crops and the hard work that they've done," Ketchum said.

Temperatures are expected to rise later this week and reach the 90s by Friday.

Ketchum said it's unusual for temperatures to plunge so far in June. The average high in Elko for this time of year is 82 degrees Fahrenheit, and the average low is 45 degrees. Snow levels will dip down to around 6,000 feet, so high-elevation homes along the border of Nevada and Idaho could see some mixed precipitation on Monday night before the cold front moves out of the region.

In addition to cold temperatures, some Northwestern areas were expecting snow, including Montana, where the forecast warned of 12 inches of snow.

"The cold air intrusion and jet stream energy across the northwestern U.S. will also bring a round of late-season wet snow across the high-elevations of the northern Rockies through the next couple of days where Winter Storm Warning and Winter Weather Advisories are in effect," the NWS said. "In addition, this energetic system will also bring quite a bit of wind across the Great Basin and the northern Rockies today, reaching into the central Rockies and northern Plains by Tuesday morning behind a sharp cold front."

Ketchum said the northern Nevada forecast isn't showing any more sudden cold for the next seven to eight days.

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