A strong late-season winter storm brought heavy snow to northeast California and the Sierra Nevada. Amounts ranged from less than 6 inches in valleys below 5000 feet to over 2 feet at some Lake Tahoe area ski resorts.
Every event with a place to put it; 12 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.
A strong late-season winter storm brought heavy snow to northeast California and the Sierra Nevada. Amounts ranged from less than 6 inches in valleys below 5000 feet to over 2 feet at some Lake Tahoe area ski resorts.
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 Apr 12, 2:00 AM PST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.
WESTERN NEVADA AND EASTERN CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV
300 AM PDT SAT APR 12 2003
COLD PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM OFF WEST COAST THIS MORNING WILL BRING
WINTERY WEATHER TO THE SIERRA AND WESTERN NV THROUGH THE WEEKEND.
RADAR SHOWS MAIN PRECIPITATION AREA OVER NORTHWEST CA WITH SOME
PREFRONTAL PRECIPITATION ALONG THE WEST SLOPES OF THE NORTHERN
SIERRA. THE PRECIP HAS MOVED EAST VERY SLOWLY OVERNIGHT BUT SHOULD
PICK UP SPEED AS A 120 KNOT JET STREAM MOVES AROUND THE BASE OF THE
OFFSHORE TROUGH AND DRIVES THE SYSTEM EAST. ALL WATCHES WILL BE
UPGRADED TO WARNINGS IN THE MORNING PACKAGE. FOR THE NORTHERN SIERRA
PRECIPITATION WILL BEGIN THIS MORNING AND BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES BY
AFTERNOON. THE TIMING WILL BE A LITTLE SLOWER IN THE CENTRAL SIERRA
WITH HEAVY PRECIPITATION HOLDING OFF UNTIL THIS EVENING. BEST
DYNAMICS AND OROGRAPHICS OCCUR TONIGHT FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER SHOT
DURING THE DAY ON SUNDAY. QPF SUGGESTS TWO FEET OF SNOW POSSIBLE IN
THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF THE SIERRA BY LATE IN THE DAY SUNDAY. THERE
MAY BE LOCALLY HEAVIER AMOUNTS IN THE TAHOE AREA AND WILL WORD
FORECASTS TO BRING 18 TO 30 INCHES FOR THAT ZONE. STRONG WINDS
LIKELY OVER THE SIERRA AND EXTREME WESTERN NV VALLEYS TODAY DUE TO
THE STRONG THERMAL GRADIENT AND AHEAD OF THE PRECIPITATION BAND.
WIND ADVISORIES IN EFFECT FOR TODAY FOR ALL AREAS EXCEPT CHURCHILL
AND PERSHING COUNTIES. THE COLD TROUGH MOVES INLAND SUNDAY NIGHT AND
MONDAY FOR SNOW SHOWERS OVER THE ENTIRE CWA WHICH CONTINUE THROUGH
MONDAY NIGHT.
IN THE EXTENDED...TUESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY...NOT SURE WHAT THE TREND
OF THE MODELS HAS BEEN SINCE THIS IS MY FIRST DAY. GFS BUILDING A
RIDGE OVER THE CWA ON TUES AND INTO WED BEFORE ANOTHER LOW DIGGING
DOWN THE COAST SWINGS INLAND. EUR AND UK SEEMS TO ALSO HAVE THIS
FEATURE AND PROGRESSION OF THE TROF. ENSEMBLES ARE SOMEWHAT LESS
CLEAR. I DO GET CONCERNED THAT THE MODELS ERROR TYPICALLY WITH LOWS
LIKE THAT AND THEY JUST KEEP GOING SOUTH AND THEN SWING EAST ALONG
THE SOUTHERN CALIF COAST. THAT WOULD MAKE MOST OF THE CWA WARMER
AND DRIER FROM MID WEEK ON. WONT BUY OFF ON THAT JUST YET BUT WILL
LOOK FOR THE THAT TREND IN LATER MODEL RUNS. MEX MOS GUID REALLY
TRENDING TOWARDS CLIMO. IF THE UPPER LOW DOES SWING EAST MAX TEMPS
AT LEAST WILL BE MUCH LOWER THAN THE MEX GUID. WILL TREND THOSE
MAXS THAT WAY.
.REV...WINTER STORM WARNING THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY
ZONES CAZ071-072 AND NVZ002.
WINTER STORM WARNING TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY FOR ZONE 073.
.WIND ADVISORY TODAY FOR CAZ070-073 AND NVZ001-002-003-005.CAZ070>073-NVZ001>005-131400- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV 600 AM PDT SAT APR 12 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NEVADA...THE EASTERN SIERRA AND NORTHEASTERN CALIFORNIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY... RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS WILL INCREASE OVER THE SIERRA AND NORTHEAST CALIFORNIA TODAY AS A PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM APPROACHES. SNOW WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. WINTER STORM WARNINGS HAVE BEEN POSTED FOR PARTS OF EASTERN CALIFORNIA...SEE WWUS45 KREV FOR DETAILS. STRONG WINDS AHEAD OF THE STORM WILL PRODUCE AREAS OF BLOWING DUST AND SAND IN WESTERN NEVADA VALLEYS. A WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR TODAY..SEE WWUS75 KREV FOR DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY HEAVY SNOW WILL CONTINUE OVER PARTS OF EASTERN CALIFORNIA SUNDAY THEN DECREASE TO SNOW SHOWERS BY SUNDAY EVENING. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS COULD REACH 2 TO 3 FEET AT UPPER ELEVATIONS IN THE SIERRA BY SUNDAY EVENING. NO WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WIND OR SNOWFALL THIS WEEKEND.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
12 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Northstar Ski Area reported from 18-24 inches of new snow.
Squaw Valley Ski Area reported 2 feet of new snow at the 8200 foot elevation.
Ski area reports of storm totals of over 4 feet of new snow along the Sierra crest above the 7000 foot elevation.
CALTRANS reported a storm total of 18 inches of new snow at Meyers, CA and 22 inches at Echo Summit.
Report of one foot of new snow in Westwood, CA.
Spotter report of 19 inches of new snow near Truckee, CA at the 6300 foot elevation.
Fourteen inches of new snow reported overnight in Portola, CA.
Seventeen inches of new snow overnight reported in Sattley, CA.
Report of 26 inches of new snow in South Lake Tahoe, CA.
A spotter 4 miles east of Susanville, CA reported 5 inches of new snow, with 4 inches reported in Susanville.
Over a foot of new snow was reported in the Sierra in Mono County.
Mammoth Mountain Ski Area reported over two feet of new snow in 24 hours.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in California, April 2003
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: 5353460, 5353461, 5353544, 5353543, 5353455, 5353459, 5353457, 5353458, 5353456, 5353540, 5353541, 5353542.