A powerful winter storm moved through the northern Sierra and western Nevada the last week of December. Ahead of the system strong winds caused widespread damage across the region on the 26th.
Every event with a place to put it; 26 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 powerful winter storm moved through the northern Sierra and western Nevada the last week of December. Ahead of the system strong winds caused widespread damage across the region on the 26th. Then as the storm moved through on the 27th up to 2 feet of snow fell in the Sierra.
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 26, 4:00 AM PST, 2 hours 35 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV
400 AM PST TUE DEC 26 2006
.SHORT TERM...
WINTER STORM WARNINGS HAVE BEEN ISSUED FOR THE TAHOE ZONE...AS WELL
AS MONO COUNTY ABOVE 7000 FEET. EXPECT 8 TO 16 INCHES IN THE HIGHER
ELEVATIONS WITH 4 TO 8 INCHES AT LAKE LEVEL. AS FAR AS THE LASSEN
ZONE...DECIDED IT WAS BEST TO GO WITH A SNOW ADVISORY FOR OVER 5500
FEET...DUE TO SNOW LEVELS BEING SO HIGH INITIALLY. SNOW TOTAL FOR
LASSEN WILL BE 4 TO 8 INCHES ABOVE 5500 FEET. THE MAJORITY OF THE
PRECIP IN LASSEN WILL BE RAIN BELOW 7000 FEET...WITH ONLY ADVISORY
ACCUMULATIONS AT PASS LEVEL BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.
AS FOR THE WESTERN NV VALLEYS...DONT EXPECT TOO MUCH. SNOW LEVELS
WILL BE TOO HIGH...LOWERING TO THE VALLEY FLOORS WEDNESDAY MORNING
AS THE HEAVIEST PRECIP TAPERS OFF.
HIGH WIND WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE NORTHEAST CA AND NORTHWEST
NV. HIGH WINDS ARE BEING CAUSED BY A VERY STRONG LOW LEVEL JET AHEAD
OF THE NORTH PAC SYSTEM. STRONG SOUTHWEST WINDS HAVE ALREADY PUSHED
INTO THE REGION AHEAD OF THIS STORM...WITH 700MB WINDS OVER 75 KTS.
SLIDE MOUNTAIN IS GUSTING TO OVER 100 MPH THIS MORNING...WHILE A
NUMBER OF FOOTHILL WIND SENSORS AROUND RENO AND CARSON CITY HAVE
GUSTED ABOVE 60 MPH. KTVL GUSTED TO 53 KNOTS WHILE KRNO HAS BEEN
STEADY WITH 35KT GUSTS. STRONGER WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO SPREAD OUT
INTO THE VALLEYS TODAY...WITH SOME LOCAL GUSTS REACHING UP TO
WARNING CRITERIA. SHOULD BE INTERESTING TO SEE THE 12Z SOUNDING THIS
MORNING. WINDS IN THE WEST CENTRAL NEVADA ZONE 4 WILL ONLY GUST
TO ADVISORY LEVELS...ALTHOUGH BLOWING DUST WILL BE A GREATER THREAT
ACROSS THAT ZONE.
SNOW WILL TAPER OFF WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON...COMPLETELY ENDING BY
WEDNESDAY EVENING. TEMPERATURES WILL BE MUCH COOLER WITH THE PASSAGE OF
THE COLD FRONT...AS WELL AS WITH A NEW BLANKET OF SNOW UP IN THE
HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF THE SIERRA. HIGH PRESSURE WILL RIDGE
IN...ALLOWING FOR MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES THAT WILL ALLOW US TO RADIATE
OUT OVERNIGHT WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT. HOON
.LONG TERM...FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY...
SLOW MOVEMENT OF LARGE UPPER LOW ACROSS MIDWEST KEEPING PATTERN
BLOCKED UP WITH RIDGE STRONGER OVER WRN U.S.. THUS STRONG ZONAL FLOW
ACROSS PAC SPLITTING OR WEAKENING ANY S/WV ENERGY MOVG ONTO W COAST.
MED RANGE MODELS HAVG DIFFICULTY RESOLVING DETAILS IN SPLIT PATTERN
ALONG W COAST SAT-MON. GFS SHOWING ANY SIGNIFICANT DYNAMICS OR
MOISTURE BRUSHING FAR NRN ZONES WITH SLGT CHC POPS DURING NEW YEARS
WEEKEND. TEMPS NEAR OR A LITTLE ABOVE CLIMO WITH FLAT UPPER RIDGE.
VARIABLE AMOUNTS OF CLOUDINESS ACROSS AREA MODERATING OVER NIGHT
LOWS WITH DAYTIME HIGHS RELATIVELY MILD FOR NEW YEARS. CYLKE
&&
.AVIATION...
GUSTY S-SW WINDS WILL CONTINUE THRU TUESDAY EVENING AHEAD OF
APPROACHING UPPER TROUGH AND COLD FRONT. SW WINDS OVER 100 MPH
ALONG SIERRA CREST WITH LLWS AND MECHANICAL TURBULENCE TO LEE
OF SIERRA. MAINLY VFR IN WRN NV AND NERN CA VALLEYS TUES WITH AREAS
OF MVFR AND MT OBSC IN SIERRA AND NERN CA THROUGH 06Z. CYLKE
&&
.REV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NV...HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 10 PM PST THIS EVENING FOR NVZ002-003-
005.
WINTER STORM WARNING FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO 4 PM PST
WEDNESDAY FOR NVZ002.
HIGH WIND WARNING FROM 4 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 4 AM PST WEDNESDAY
FOR NVZ001.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 10 PM PST THIS EVENING FOR NVZ004.
CA...HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 10 PM PST THIS EVENING FOR CAZ070>072.
SNOW ADVISORY FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO 4 PM PST WEDNESDAY FOR
CAZ071 ABOVE 5500 FEET.
HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 4 AM PST WEDNESDAY FOR CAZ073.
WINTER STORM WARNING FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO 4 PM PST
WEDNESDAY FOR CAZ072.
WINTER STORM WARNING FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO 4 PM PST
WEDNESDAY FOR CAZ073 ABOVE 7000 FEET.
&&
HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/RENO<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
14 high wind, 12 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
A 55 knot (63 mph) wind gust was reported at the South Lake Tahoe airport (KTVL).
A 91 knot (105 mph) wind gust was recorded at the top of Mammoth Mountain at an elevation of 11,083 feet.
Wind gusts estimated at 70 knots (80 mph) knocked containers off of a train near Beckwourth.
A 74 knot (85 mph) wind gust was recorded at Squaw Valley High Camp at an elevation of 8200 feet.
A 107 knot (123 mph) wind gust was recorded at the top of Ward Mountain west of Lake Tahoe at an elevation of 8637 feet.
A 55 knot (63 mph) wind gust was recorded at Lee Vining at an elevation of 6780 feet.
A wind gust estimated at 61 knots (70 mph) knocked over a 6-ft diameter pine tree in South Lake Tahoe. The high winds also took down power lines across the area.
A 59 knot (68 mph) wind gust was recorded at the Bridgeport RAWS sensor at an elevation of 6650 feet.
A trained weather spotter located five miles north of Meyers estimated wind gusts to 61 knots (70 mph). There were reports of shingles being blown off of roofs, and numerous trees and power lines down causing power outages.
Wind gusts estimated at 56 knots (65 mph) damaged buildings at Bodie State Park. An historic water tower was also blown over.
A 55 knot (63 mph) wind gust was recorded at the South Lake Tahoe airport (KTVL).
A 61 knot (70 mph) wind gust was recorded by the Walker RAWS sensor.
A 52 knot (60 mph) wind gust was recorded by the Rock Creek RAWS sensor at an elevation of 7040 feet.
A total of 24 inches of snow fell at Kirkwood Ski Resort.
A total of 14 inches of snow fell at Northstar-at-Tahoe Ski Resort.
A total of 18 inches of snow fell at Sugar Bowl Ski Resort.
A total of 9 inches of snow fell at Mammoth Ranger Station.
A total of 12 inches of snow fell at Meyers.
A total of 12 inches of snowfall was reported by a trained weather observer near Tahoe Donner.
A total of 12 inches of snow fell at an elevation of 7900 feet at Homewood Ski Resort. Six inches of snow fell at 6250 feet.
A total of 15 inches of snow fell at an elevation of 8850 feet at Sierra-at-Tahoe Ski Resort. Eight inches of snow fell at 6640 feet.
A total of 20 inches of snow fell at an elevation of 8200 feet at Squaw Valley Ski Resort. Eight inches of snow fell at 6200 feet.
A total of 15 inches of snow fell at Alpine Meadows Ski Resort.
A total of 8 inches of snow fell at an elevation of 7550 feet at June Mountain Ski Area.
A total of 20 inches of snow fell at an elevation of 9000 feet at Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort.
A 72 knot (83 mph) wind gust was recorded by the Bridgeport RAWS sensor.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in California, December 2006
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5592, 5593, 6101, 5610, 5620, 5624, 5634, 5635, 5636, 5637, 5638, 5639, 5640, 5642, 5643, 5644, 5645, 5647, 5648, 5650, 5665, 5672, 5673, 5675, 5678, 5641.