Reno tree and wildfire data sheet

Reno's numbers are a city average over very different ground, from the valley floor near the airport to the foothills along the west side. This sheet gives the whole city against Washoe County, Nevada and the United States, followed by the wildfire ranking, the three nearest NOAA stations and the large fires mapped within about 10 miles. For single ZIP codes, use the neighborhood pages linked at the end.

Three stations, three snow totals

Reno 1.4 NNE sits at 4,902 feet and records 33.3 inches of snowfall a year. The National Weather Service office, at 4,987 feet, records 29.7 inches. The airport, at 4,410 feet, records 20.9. All three are within 4 miles of the town point, and the spread between them is the whole story of Reno snow: a few hundred feet of elevation changes the total by about 12 inches.

Precipitation runs from 7.35 inches at the airport to 9.24 inches at the NNE station. Which station is nearest to a given street depends on where in the city it sits.

A renter's city with some of the newest housing near it

Only 49.8% of Reno homes are owner-occupied, against 59.9% for Washoe County and 60.0% for Nevada. Single-family detached homes are 50.1%. The median home was built in 1990, and 37.4% of homes predate 1980, a higher share than Sparks (33.8%) but well below Carson City (48.6%). Almost no one heats with wood: 0.3% of households, against 1.1% for Washoe County.

With half the homes rented, the decision about a tree may rest with an owner who is not on site. Our rental property guide covers who decides.

The fire rows and the fires around the city

Risk to homes ranks above 97.7% of US communities and 74.6% of Nevada communities. Of 81,759 buildings counted, only 5.0% are in the direct-exposure zone, against 16.3% for Washoe County, and 52.6% are in the minimal zone. The rank is high because of how much housing touches the fire-prone edge, not because most of the city does.

Thirty-three entries appear within about 10 miles, a few of them repeats of one fire under two or three names. The largest is the Hawk fire of 2026 at 15,083 mapped acres, centered 7.3 miles out, followed by Belli Ranch in 1996 (6,724 acres), Reservoir in 1999 (6,163) and Verdi in 2006 (5,662). Several smaller ones, such as Pinehaven in 2020 (512 acres), are within 4 to 5 miles.

What a Reno homeowner can do with this

Use the city sheet to see the pattern, then look for your own ZIP. If your lot touches the foothills or the river corridor, the fire rows apply more than the city average suggests, and defensible space and brush mowing are the jobs to ask about. In older neighborhoods, expect the conversation to be about trimming and removal of large trees, with a crane when the yard is tight.

The drive from our yard is 33.5 miles, about 43 minutes without traffic. That is a distance, not a promise of arrival.