Should Nevadans Be Concerned About El Niño?

There has been a lot of talk about El Niño lately, especially after California began taking steps to prepare for what could be a significant winter. Most of the headlines, though, have focused on California.

So, what about those of us on the other side of the state line?

If you live in Reno, Sparks, Carson City, Incline Village or around Lake Tahoe, El Niño is certainly something worth paying attention to. That doesn't mean Northern Nevada is guaranteed to get buried in snow or that we're headed for some kind of catastrophic winter. Weather doesn't work that neatly, and El Niño definitely doesn't.

But it could affect our winter, and with the kind of weather Northern Nevada already gets, there's a good argument for getting your home ready before we find out exactly what this season has in store.

El Niño Doesn't Mean the Same Thing Everywhere

One of the problems with all the El Niño headlines is that they make it sound like one weather pattern is going to affect the entire West Coast in exactly the same way.

It won't.

El Niño is caused by unusually warm water in the tropical Pacific, and those warmer ocean temperatures can influence the jet stream and storm patterns across the country. Where those storms actually go, how much precipitation they carry and whether that precipitation falls as rain or snow is another story.

That's particularly true in Northern Nevada.

Reno can be relatively dry while the Sierra is getting hammered with snow. Drive a relatively short distance toward Tahoe and you can find yourself in completely different weather. Carson City can see another variation altogether.

So when someone says we're going to have an "El Niño winter," that doesn't automatically translate to a specific amount of snow in your backyard.

It just means this is probably a winter worth watching.

Reno and Sparks Have Their Own Set of Winter Problems

Anyone who has lived in Reno for a while knows that winter can be unpredictable.

We get wind. We get snow. We get rain. We get days where it feels like all three happened before lunch.

For roofs, the changing conditions can sometimes be more important than one giant snowstorm. Water gets into places snow doesn't. Wind-driven rain can find vulnerable areas around flashing and roof penetrations. Snow melts during warmer temperatures and then freezes again when temperatures drop.

And because Northern Nevada spends so much of the year relatively dry, small roofing problems can sit unnoticed for months.

Then the weather changes.

That's when the homeowner who had absolutely no reason to think anything was wrong suddenly notices a water stain on the ceiling.

Carson City Isn't Exactly Immune, Either

Carson City homeowners are in a similar position. You may not deal with the same snow loads as a home at higher elevation around Tahoe, but winter still brings rain, snow, freezing temperatures and plenty of wind.

A roof doesn't have to be falling apart to have a problem during that kind of weather.

Sometimes it's a piece of flashing that has deteriorated. Sometimes it's an older pipe boot. Sometimes it's debris sitting somewhere it shouldn't. Sometimes a roofing material has shifted just enough that nobody notices until water starts moving across it.

That's one reason we like looking at roofs before winter instead of after the first big storm.

It's a lot nicer to find a problem when the roof is dry.

Tahoe Is Obviously a Different Animal

Once you start talking about Lake Tahoe and Incline Village, winter roofing becomes a different conversation.

Snow accumulation matters. Roof pitch matters. Where that snow eventually goes matters.

A large amount of snow sitting on a roof doesn't stay there forever. Eventually it melts, shifts or slides. That's why Tahoe homes sometimes need snow retention systems in areas where sliding snow could come off above an entrance, walkway, driveway, deck or other area where people or property are below.

There are also freeze-and-thaw cycles to think about. Snow can melt during warmer parts of the day, temperatures drop again overnight, and the whole process repeats.

None of this is particularly unusual for Tahoe. It's just part of owning a home in the mountains.

El Niño potentially adds another variable to a winter environment that already asks a lot from a roofing system.

So, Are We Going to Get a Ton of Snow?

Maybe.

That's probably not the satisfying answer everyone wants, but it's the accurate one.

El Niño doesn't guarantee a huge Tahoe snow year, and it doesn't guarantee Reno or Carson City will have an unusually wet winter. There are too many other factors involved to make that call based on El Niño alone.

We've also lived through enough winters around here to know that predictions don't always play out the way everyone expects.

That's why we wouldn't recommend replacing a roof just because someone told you El Niño is coming.

We would recommend taking care of a roofing problem you already know about instead of waiting until January to see what happens.

A Few Things Worth Doing Before Winter

If your gutters are full of leaves or pine needles, clean them out. If you've noticed a tile out of place, have it checked. If you had a small leak last winter and haven't thought about it since the weather dried up, now would be a really good time to think about it again.

Take a look at the trees around the house, too. Heavy snow and wind can turn a branch that looked harmless all summer into a much bigger problem.

And if your roof is getting older and you genuinely don't know what kind of condition it's in, having someone inspect it before winter can at least give you an idea of what you're working with.

That doesn't automatically mean you need a new roof. Plenty of roofs just need a repair, maintenance or nothing at all.

We'd rather tell someone their roof looks fine than sell them something they don't need.

The Bottom Line for Northern Nevada

Should Nevadans be concerned about El Niño?

We'd say it's worth being aware of, but there's no reason to panic over every headline.

Northern Nevada gets real winter weather whether El Niño shows up in the news or not. This year, there's simply a little more reason to pay attention to what may be coming across the Sierra.

Take care of the things you can take care of now. Clean the gutters. Deal with the repair you've been putting off. Check the trees around the house. And then, like everyone else in Northern Nevada, we'll see what winter decides to do.

American Eagle Roofing & Gutters serves Reno, Sparks, Carson City, Lake Tahoe, Incline Village and surrounding Northern Nevada communities. If something on your roof has been worrying you, we're happy to take a look before the weather changes.

Let our family help yours.

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