Thunderstorms end dry spell; tornado near Ely

The funnel cloud touched down near Mosier Canyon southeast of Ely about 1 p.m. Thursday as thunderstorms moved across White Pine County, the National Weather Service said.

The southwestern part of White Pine County and southern Eureka County were placed under a flash flood warning at about 3:30 p.m. as the heavy rains moved slowly to the north.

U.S. Highway 278 was under water north of Eureka at mile marker 27 part of Thursday afternoon, the state patrol said.

A flash flood warning also was issued in northern Washoe County about 5 p.m. as a heavy line of thunderstorms streched from Vya to Gerlach on their way east.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or property damage due to the tornado or flood waters.

The storms brought the first measurable rain in a month to Reno, where temperatures had soared above 100 degrees four straight days over last weekend.

On June 23, Reno had .16 inch of rain, with just a trace reported June 25, July 6 and July 21.

The flash flood watch was in effect into Thursday night along portions of the eastern Sierra, northeastern California and southern Nevada.

The weather service predicted scattered showers and thunderstorms would continue on Friday.

The watch covered Clark, Lincoln, Nye and Esmeralda counties. Thunderstorms in those areas showed the potential for dropping 1 inch to 2 inches of rain in as little as an hour, causing flash flooding, especially in narrow canyons and urban areas.

The watch area also included the Reno-Sparks-Carson City area, Lake Tahoe, and Churchill, Douglas, Lyon, Mineral, Pershing and Storey counties. In California, the watch covered Lassen and Mono counties along with the eastern portions of Alpine, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Plumas and Sierra counties.

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