Name: High Wind in California, April 15, 2002
Start: 2002-04-15T02:30
End: 2002-04-15T11:00
Location: California

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

What forecasters said that day

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 Las Vegas, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 14, 7:30 PM PST, 7 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 14, 7:30 PM PST, 7 hours before

MOJAVE DESERT/SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
830 PM PDT SUN APR 14 2002

SYNOPSIS...STRONG PACIFIC LOW PRESSURE WILL MOVE INTO THE GREAT
BASIN AND MOJAVE DESERT TONIGHT AND MONDAY BRINGING AN INCREASE IN
WINDS ALONG WITH MUCH COOLER TEMPERATURES. VERY STRONG WINDS CAN BE
EXPECTED THROUGHOUT THE REGION MONDAY BEFORE DISSIPATING MONDAY
NIGHT. TEMPERATURES WILL DROP SOME 10 TO 12 DEGREES MONDAY FOLLOWED
BY AN ADDITIONAL 5 TO 7 DEGREES ON TUESDAY. A FEW SHOWERS WILL
DEVELOP ALONG THE COLD FRONT MONDAY NIGHT ACROSS EAST CENTRAL
NEVADA...HOWEVER REMAINING AREAS WILL BE DRY.

DISCUSSION...SATELLITE SHOWS UPPER TROUGH DIGGING SOUTH AND EAST
OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST WITH SOME HIGH CLOUDS FORMING OVER THE
MOUNTAINS. SURFACE OBSERVATIONS SHOW SOUTHWEST WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH
OVER THE WHOLE CWA AS PRESSURE GRADIENT AND THERMAL GRADIENTS
TIGHTEN AHEAD OF THIS PACIFIC TROUGH. IN THE SHORT TERM ONLY CONCERN
IS THE WIND SPEEDS OVERNIGHT. MAY SEE SOME WINDS CLOSE TO ADVISORY
BUT THIS LOOKS TO BE ONLY LOCALIZED. WILL CONTINUE WITH MONDAY
ADVISORIES AS GRADIENTS TIGHTEN MORE ON MONDAY AFTERNOON. HAD RECORD
TEMPERATURES OVER THE AREA TODAY WITH SOME EXPECTED HIGH MINS
OVERNIGHT AS WINDS CONTINUE TO BE ON THE BREEZY SIDE. NEXT SHIFT
WILL NEED TO LOOK AT THE HIGH WIND WATCH AND EITHER GO WITH A
WARNING OR ADVISORY. IT LOOKS TO BE A TOSS UP AS MODELS IN A LITTLE
BIT OF A DISAGREEMENT WITH WIND SPEEDS FOR MONDAY AFTERNOON. FOR NOW
NO UPDATES PLANNED AS FORECAST LOOKS TO BE ON TRACK.

.LAS...WIND ADVISORY MONDAY NV ZONES 13/14/15 AND CA ZONES
       26/27 HIGH WIND WATCH REMAINING ZONES MONDAY.
       PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST RNONPWLAS FOR FURTHER DETAILS AND
       UPDATES.

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, W Inyo

When: April 15, 2:30 AM PST to 11:00 AM PST
Where: W Inyo forecast zone
Measured: 63 kt (72 mph)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

A strong low pressure system brought high winds to portions of the Sierra.

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in California in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in California, April 2002

Sources

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: 5293482.