By Kathryn Reed

Start stripping; it’s just going to get hotter.

South Lake Tahoe hit a record high on Wednesday, and the forecast from the National Weather Service in Reno is more records will be broken today and Friday.

Ninety-one is the magic number for all three days. Apparently it was hot in 1990, too, because that is when the previous records for July 27-28-29 were set. That year on July 27 it was 90, July 28 – 90, and July 29 – 89.

Carson City and Reno will have triple digits, and are also likely to break records.

Truckee, which has records dating much farther back than South Lake, had a ways to go on Wednesday to beat the record of 99 that was set in 1975. The high yesterday was 93.

Truckee has a better chance of breaking a record the next two days, with the forecast being for 93 degrees and the record 94 for July 28-29.

Tahoe City only reached the mid-80s on July 27.

“There’s a really strong high pressure system,” Shane Snyder, meteorologist with the NWS in Reno, said of why it’s so hot. “It will drop off significantly by Saturday.”

For the weekend the South Shore will be in the 80s.

The good thing is that there is relief from the heat in the evenings, with most nights dipping into the 40s.

Normally the basin sees afternoon thunderstorms this time of year. Moisture has been absent, but that could change soon.

Snyder told Lake Tahoe News storms might build on the eastern side of the lake and in the Carson Range on Friday and Saturday. The danger is the accompanying lightning could start fires, especially since there is so much dry terrain.

“Due to the very hot and dry conditions, thunderstorms are more likely to produce strong outflow winds and dry lightning leading to an increased risk of new fire starts,” the Weather Service said. “Unfortunately, any rainfall that occurs with these storms will be limited to very small areas and will offer little help to the region, which has not seen much precipitation since May.”