1 heavy snow, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Reno, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 8, 2:40 PM PST, 5 hours 35 minutes earlier.
WESTERN NEVADA AND EASTERN CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV 240 PM PST SAT DEC 8 2001 TEMPS AT 2 PM WERE WARMER AT LAKE LEVEL AND EVEN AT 8000 FEET THAN AT RENO AS THE WARMER AIR HAD YET TO MIX DOWN INTO THE VALLEY...WITH A PERSISTENT WAVE CLOUD ALSO LIMITING THE AMOUNT OF HEATING. WHEN THE WIND IS ABLE TO PENETRATE THE VALLEY INVERSION... TEMPS MAY REACH THEIR MAXIMUM IN THE EARLY EVENING. THE 18Z AVN AND ETA ARE SIMILAR TO THEIR RESPRECTIVE 12Z RUNS IN THE HANDLING OF THE APPROACHING UPPER LOW NEAR 40N/130W. CONSIDERING THE POTENTIAL DYNAMICS WITH THE 500 MB COLD CORE AND SURFACE LOW MOVING OVER RENO-TAHOE BY 18Z WITH THE LIFTED INDEX APPROACHING ZERO...AND THE MID LEVEL JET TO THE SOUTH OF OUR REGION...THERE REMAINS THE POTENTIAL FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF POST-FRONTAL SNOW OVER MOST OF OUR REGION. ESTIMATED ONSET TIME WOULD OCCUR AFTER MIDNIGHT IN OUR NORTHERN ZONES...BY EARLY MORNING IN THE RENO-TAHOE-FALLON AREAS...AND BY MID TO LATE MORNING FOR THE SOUTHERN ZONES. THE MAIN LIMITING FACTORS TO MUCH SNOW ACCUMULATION WOULD BE THE ADEQUATE BUT NOT ABUNDANT LOW AND MID LEVEL MOISTURE AND THE RAPID PROGRESSION OF THE SYSTEM LIKELY RESULTING IN ANY STEADY SNOW DURATION OF 3 HOURS OR LESS OVER MOST AREAS. ADVISORY CRITERIA IS NOT EXPECTED TO BE REACHED IN THE SIERRA WITH THE FORECAST MAXIMUM OF 5 INCHES IN THE SIERRA...1-3 INCHES AT LAKE LEVEL...1-2 INCHES IN NORTHEAST CA...AND 1 INCH OR LESS IN WESTERN NEVADA. AFTER THIS SYSTEM EXITS OUR SOUTHERNMOST ZONES BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON...A COOLER NORTH FLOW ALOFT IS EXPECTED FOR MONDAY AND TUESDAY WHICH SHOULD KEEP HIGHS A FEW DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. WEAK SHORTWAVES ALONG THE BACK SIDE OF THE UPPER LOW MAY RETAIN A LITTLE MORE CLOUD COVER OVER THE REGION EACH DAY BUT COVERAGE WAS SCALED BACK FROM THE MODEL FORECASTS SINCE THERE IS LITTLE EVIDENCE OF A DECENT MOISTURE SOURCE BY THAT TIME. SLIGHT WARMING WILL BEGIN ON TUESDAY AS HEIGHTS RISE AHEAD OF THE BUILDING RIDGE OFF THE WEST COAST. FOR WEDNESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY...A FLAT RIDGE WILL BE OVER THIS AREA ON WEDNESDAY. THE 12Z AVN SHOWED SOME LIGHT QPF IN OUR NORTHERN ZONES DUE TO OVERRUNNING BUT AT THIS POINT ITS PROBABLY BEST TO STICK WITH A DRY FORECAST. MODELS ALL BRING A DECENT TROUGH IN ON FRIDAY. THE ECMWF AND UKMET SHOW A HIGHER AMPLITUDE SYSTEM THAT MIGHT NOT MOVE OUT AS QUICKLY AS THE MRF SHOWS. AFTER COORDINATION WITH UPSTREAM OFFICES WE HAVE USED THE MRF SOLUTION AND GONE WITH DRY BUT COOLER WEATHER ON SATURDAY. MJD/JC .REV...NONE.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
California Department of Transportation reported 3-4 inches of snow on Fredonyer Pass (elevation 5748 feet) and up to one foot on Highway 44 in 12 hours.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in California, December 2001
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5275654.