Spotter report of heavy snow. In the Reno/Sparks city limits (elevation 4500 feet) 2-4 inches of snow fell in 8-12 hours.
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 episode as NWS REV wrote it up.
Spotter report of heavy snow. In the Reno/Sparks city limits (elevation 4500 feet) 2-4 inches of snow fell in 8-12 hours.
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 Jan 28, 3:30 AM PST, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.
WESTERN NEVADA AND EASTERN CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV
330 AM PST MON JAN 28 2002
VORT MAX OVER BAY AREA THIS MORNING MOVING EWD WITH CLOUDS INCREASING
OVER SIERRA. EXPECT SNOW SHOWERS TO INCREASE OVER AREA THIS AFTERNOON
UNDER COLD AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS. STRONGEST OMEGA OVER CENTRAL SIERRA
THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING WITH QPFS OF A QUARTER TO A HALF AN INCH
OF WATER EQUIVALENT FROM TAHOE TO MONO COUNTY. WILL ISSUE SNOW ADVISORY
FOR LAKE TAHOE AND MONO COUNTY TODAY AND TONIGHT WITH TOTAL SNOW
ACCUMULATIONS 4-8 INCHES ABOVE 7K IN TAHOE AREA TO 6-10 INCHES IN
MONO COUNTY ABOVE 7K BY EARLY TUESDAY MORNING. WRN NV AND NE CA
ZONES COULD SEE SOME LOCAL 1-3 INCH ACCUMULATIONS ON VALLEY FLOORS
ESPECIALLY NEAR EAST SLOPES OF SIERRA. SNOW SHOWERS ENDING FROM
N LATE TONIGHT WITH LINGERING SNOW SHOWERS OVER MONO COUNTY INTO
TUESDAY AS UPPER LOW DROPS SWD. RIDGE TO BRING DRY WEATHER BY WEDNESDAY
ALTHOUGH SOME CLOUDS EXPECTED TO OVERRUN RIDGE ACROSS NRN CWA.
COLDEST TEMPS SO FAR THIS WINTER WITH HIGHS IN THE 20S OVER MUCH
OF AREA TODAY AND TUESDAY. SINGLE DIGIT TEMPS IN MTNS ABOVE 7000
FEET WITH WIND CHILL OF 15-20 BELOW IN EXPOSED UPPER ELEVATIONS.
EXTENDED...A SPLIT FLOW PATTERN WILL BE IN PLACE THROUGH THE PERIOD
WITH A SERIES OF SHORT WAVES MOVING TO THE WEST COAST AND THEN
WEAKENING AS THEY MOVE INLAND. ONE SHORT WAVE MOVES ACROSS THE AREA
FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT. THIS HAS BEEN ADVERTISED BY THE MEDIUM RANGE
MODELS FOR SEVERAL RUNS AND CONFIDENCE IS FAIRLY HIGH IN THE MRF
SOLUTION. WILL HAVE SOME MENTION OF SNOW SHOWERS IN ALL ZONES FRIDAY
WITH THE BEST CHANCES IN THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE CWA. ANOTHER
SHORT WAVE MOVES INTO THE AREA SUNDAY. THIS FEATURE IS WEAKER THAN
FRIDAYS AND FOR NOW WILL ADD SOME CLOUD COVER BUT LEAVE OUT
PRECIPITATION. DAYTIME HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL SHOW A GRADUAL WARMUP
BUT GENERALLY REMAIN BELOW SEASONAL NORMALS. CYLKE/RC
.REV...SNOW ADVISORY TODAY AND TONIGHT LAKE TAHOE AREA NVZ002..CAZ072
AND MONO COUNTY CAZ073.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, January 2002
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: 5279487.