B. Climate in Washoe County
Washoe County has a diverse population covering 6,540 square miles of urban, suburban, and rural land. 485,113 people lived in Washoe County in 2021, with 264,318 people living in Reno, Washoe County’s largest urban area, and 107,489 people living in Sparks, the second largest urban area. Almost 113,306 people lived in Unincorporated Washoe County.
Reno is the fastest-warming metro in the US. Warming winter temperatures have resulted in more precipitation falling as rain instead of snow, which has caused declining snowpack in the Sierra Nevada. Predominant drought conditions are projected to be punctuated by more intense storms. In Nevada and elsewhere in the American West, wildfires are becoming more frequent and hotter, destroying homes, forests, and choking our region with dangerous smoke, sometimes intensely. To read more about the impacts of a changing climate in Washoe County, visit the Introduction to this Climate Action Plan.
According to FEMA’s climate risk map, Washoe County’s climate risk is designated "Relatively High," making Washoe County one of the two most vulnerable counties in NV and one of the most vulnerable counties nationwide as well. See Figure 1.
Figure 1: The State of Nevada on FEMA's Climate Risk Map. Source: FEMA National Risk Index