Weather and Road Conditions

Keeping an Eye to the Sky

At an elevation of 6,150 feet, Virginia City’s temperatures indicate a town capable of offering visitors mild summer days and glimpses of a Sierra Nevada-area winter. Mean temperatures fall to 33 degrees Fahrenheit in January and rise to a pleasant 70 degrees in July. Records were set with a low of minus 3 degrees in January 1956, and in August 1970, a high of 100 degrees.

The dry climate’s annual precipitation measures a foot, with most resulting from an average of 56 inches of snow per year. During the winter, visitors are advised to check up-to-the-minute road conditions including the main Highway 341 Geiger Grade by contacting the Nevada Department of Transportation through its 511 travel information system by calling or logging on to www.nevadadot.com where road construction, incidents, obstructions, warnings and controls are listed.

The National Weather Service maintains a nearby Reno bureau for weather conditions, which may be accessed on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website via www.noaa.gov.