Friday brought a variety of weathe to the Truckee Meadows. Shortly before noon a weather report might have read: temperature, a mild 59 degrees, wind strong gusting to 45 miles an hour, visibility variable due to blowing sand.

At the corner of Rock and Mill Streets at the northeast corner of the Reno/Tahoe Airport, the effect was like being sand blasted. It wasn't doing paint jobs, windshields or contact lenses any good.

Elsewhere the damage was more evident. The big sign on Harrah's at the corner of 2nd and Center was missing. Some downtown traffic lights weren't working, but it was the residential areas that were hardest hit.

Fences were knocked down at a number of locations and some trees shed branches, but in other locations the trees themselves came down.

At the university a big tree fell on a car. In a nearby neighborhood another took out a fence.

Joe Pritchard parked his mini van outside his office At 9:30, a passerby suggested he might want to check on his vehicle. A tree had fallen on it. A city crew removed it. Pritchard was taking it all philosophically.

"Maybe I shouldn't have come to work today."

Ricky Monreal got a call from his family that a tree had fallen on his house in northeast Reno. Rushing home he discovered the big tree leaning on his house. He counts himself lucky. His house was undamaged, no one injured.

"I'm blessed because my family was inside. My worst thought was my family. My wife and kids."

He'll spend the weekend with friends removing the tree.
"I'll have a lot of good firewood now," he laughs.