When it comes to Northern Nevada weather, you have to be ready to expect anything.

Spring sports coaches and athletes are particular familiar with the wide-ranging weather, especially earlier in the season.

Prep coaches were especially happy when the first day of official practices two Saturdays ago was a beautiful 60-degree day. However, that turned out to be a tease.

Temperatures this week dipped down into the 30's at times. Rain and even a little bit of snow were a commonplace unfortunately, disrupting the week's practices.

Making it more difficult is the fact teams only have 10 days before games start, leaving a very short time before the action counts.

Sparks softball practiced indoors three days this week, and the coaching staff thought in hindsight the Railroaders should have stayed inside the other two days because of the weather.

"It's awfully hard. I've always said we should play softball in the fall and football in the spring," Sparks softball coach Frank Avilla quipped. "We expect cold weather at the start of the season. We make due. We go inside and get our station work done. There's nothing like being outside though. Today was great, and we got a lot done."

Most teams tried to get outside as much as possible even if it wasn't all that enjoyable.

Spanish Springs softball was outside everyday except for one.

Still, yesterday's clear skies were definitely appreciated and allowed for both the Cougars and Reed to scrimmage three different softball teams back-to-back-to-back. Galena and Reno were the other two teams playing at Shadow Mountain Park in Sparks Saturday.

"I thought it was great. Everybody got to play. Pitchers got to throw. We got to see people in different spots they normally don't play, so I thought it was a very productive day," SSHS softball coach Jeff Davidson said. "It was very beneficial. There were a lot of positives and some negatives as well. That's what scrimmages are for."

The poor weather doesn't just affect baseball and softball squads. Golf might have it the worse due to the length of time spent outside for a round of play. But that doesn't stop them from going out to the course.

Golfers in Northern Nevada know they have to deal with the elements, so the poor weather was actually a preparatory blessing in disguise early in the spring campaign.

Spanish Springs was on the course practicing all five days, getting ready for the upcoming season.

"If we have a tournament and the weather is poor, we still have to play," SSHS golf coach Victor Sherbondy said. "It's the nature of the sport in this geographic area. It was really hard because some of the boys couldn't even feel their clubs in their hands because it was so cold."