Avalanche in California, February 1, 2006

Name: Avalanche in California, February 1, 2006
Start: 2006-02-01T09:00
End: 2006-02-01T09:00
Location: California

February 1, 2006 · NWS REV · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Three skiers were caught in a slab avalanche while crossing an open area on their way to Mt. Walt west of Twin Lakes.

Where it happened

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.

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The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 1
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 happened

The episode as NWS REV wrote it up.

Three skiers were caught in a slab avalanche while crossing an open area on their way to Mt. Walt west of Twin Lakes. According to a newspaper report, all three were experienced skiers and all of them carried avalanche beacons. One skier survived the avalanche by hanging onto a tree at the edge of the snow slide. The other two skiers were caught in the avalanche and carried downhill. One of the skiers was only partially buried and suffered a large cut to his jaw. The other skier was carried through trees for about 600 feet. She suffered a broken back, among other serious injuries. She was airlifted to the University Hospital near Fresno, but died of her injuries.

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 Reno, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 1, 3:10 AM PST, 5 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 1, 3:10 AM PST, 5 hours 50 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV
310 AM PST WED FEB 1 2006

.SHORT TERM...
PORTIONS OF VERY POWERFUL 180 KT JET STREAM NOSING INTO THE PAC NW
WILL MOVE INTO EXTREME NRN PORTIONS OF CA AND NV TODAY. WARM
ADVECTION SHOWERS WILL FALL AS SNOW ACROSS THE SURPRISE VALLEY AND
THE TAHOE AREA EARLY THIS MORNING AMOUNTING TO A COUPLE INCHES
BEFORE SNOW LEVELS RISE. PRECIP WILL INCREASE TODAY OVER NRN AREAS
AS FIRE HOSE OF MOISTURE MOVES INTO OUR AREA...AND EVENTUALLY SPREAD
SOUTH ACROSS LASSEN COUNTY...THE TAHOE BASIN AND WRN NV. THE MODELS
TRENDED WETTER LAST NIGHT WHICH IS NO BIG SURPRISE DUE TO
SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE TAP OF 1-1.5 INCHES AND JET DYNAMICS. THERE ARE
SOME UNCERTAINTIES...LIKE WHERE THE HEAVIEST PRECIP BAND WILL SET UP
(LASSEN OR THE TAHOE BASIN) AND SNOW LEVELS. RIGHT NOW SNOW SHOWERS
ARE MOVING ACROSS THE TAHOE AREA WITH SNOW DOWN TO LAKE LEVEL. THE
LOWERED SNOW LEVELS ARE LIKELY DUE TO DRIER AIR NEAR THE SURFACE
THIS MORNING. AS LEVELS MOISTEN UP EXPECT SNOW LEVELS TO RISE TO
NEAR 7500 OR 8000 FEET. THIS WILL SET UP A WARM RAIN EVENT AT LOWER
ELEVATIONS. CURRENT MODELS TOTAL NEAR 4 INCHES OF LIQUID ON THE WEST
SIDE OF THE CREST WITH 2-2.5 INCHES EXPECTED ON OUR SIDE...AND 1-2
INCHES IN THE TAHOE AREA...WITH SLIGHTLY LESS IN THE RENO FOOTHILLS.
THEREFORE ANY SNOW THAT DOES AMOUNT TO A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT WILL
OCCUR ABOVE 7000 OR 7500 FEET AND ONLY AFFECT ONE OR TWO PASSES.
SNOW ADVISORY WILL CONTINUE IN THE TAHOE BASIN TO COVER THE HIGH
ELEVATION SNOW.

MAIN CONCERN IS WHERE HEAVY PRECIP FALLS AND ANY FLOOD CONCERNS.
LOOKS LIKE THE MAIN THREAT RIGHT NOW WILL BE TO URBAN AREAS IN THE
SIERRA...CREEKS AND STREAMS. A SIGNIFICANT RISE IS EXPECTED IN
CREEKS AND STREAMS...SO IF YOU LIVE NEAR THESE EXPECT SOME MINOR
FLOODING. MAINSTEM RIVERS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO FLOOD AT THIS
TIME...BUT IF HEAVY RAIN BAND SETS UP OVER THE SUSAN RIVER OR
PORTIONS OF THE TRUCKEE...THAN THIS COULD CHANGE. THE BAND OF VERY
HEAVY PRECIP IS EXPECTED TO BE RATHER NARROW...WHICH WILL MAKE
FORECASTING THE EXACT POSITION DIFFICULT. BEST GUESS IS IT WILL SET
UP OVER SRN LASSEN...PLUMAS AND SIERRA COUNTIES.

THE HEAVY PRECIP WILL BEGIN BY THIS AFTERNOON AND WILL END DURING
THE DAY ON THURSDAY GIVING US UP TO 24 HOURS OF POTENTIAL AREAS OF
HEAVY PRECIP. A SHORT WAVE RIDGE BUILDS INTO THE AREA THURSDAY NIGHT
AND FRIDAY AS JET STREAM LIFTS NORTH PUTTING A BRIEF END TO THE
PRECIP. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN ABOVE NORMAL TODAY...AND WELL ABOVE
NORMAL BY FRIDAY WITH HIGHS POSSIBLY IN THE LOW 60S IN WRN NV.
BENINATO

.LONG TERM...SATURDAY THROUGH TUESDAY...
LITTLE CHANGE WAS MADE TO THE EXTENDED THIS MORNING AS MEDIUM RANGE
SOLUTIONS CONTINUE TO SHOW A RETROGRESSION OF THE LARGE SCALE FLOW
AND TRANSITION TO ABOVE NORMAL HEIGHTS ACROSS THE WESTERN STATES BY
EARLY NEXT WEEK. MODELS HAVE BEEN VERY CONSISTENT WITH PROGRESSION
OF A WEAKENING SHORTWAVE TROUGH SATURDAY THAT WOULD RESULT IN SOME
MOISTURE MAKING IT INTO THE TAHOE BASIN AND POINTS NORTHWARD INTO
LASSEN COUNTY/SURPRISE VALLEY. AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE FAIRLY
LIGHT WITH QPF IN THE MOUNTAINS EXPECTED TO STAY BELOW ONE HALF
INCH. ONLY SPARSE QPF NUMBERS ARE ANTICIPATED FOR VALLEY LOCATIONS
WHERE THE MAIN AFFECT WILL BE PERIODS OF BREEZY WINDS SATURDAY
AFTERNOON. THE GFS HAS TRENDED CLOSER TO THE OTHER MODEL RUNS IN
CLOSING OFF EXTENSION OF A LONGWAVE TROUGH OVER THE EAST PACIFIC
EARLY NEXT WEEK ALTHOUGH IT DOES DROP ENERGY AROUND BUILDING WESTERN
CANADIAN/PACIFIC NORTHWEST RIDGE AND ACROSS THE AREA MONDAY. SO
THERE WILL LIKELY BE SOME TROUGHINESS ACROSS THE AREA ALTHOUGH AT
THIS TIME IT DOES NOT LOOK LIKE MUCH SENSIBLE WEATHER IMPACT OTHER
THAN TO KEEP TEMPERATURES CLOSER TO NORMAL LEVELS. HOHMANN
&&

.AVIATION...
AREAS OF MVFR IN THE SIERRA TODAY GRADUALLY LOWERING TO WIDESPREAD
MVFR/AREAS IFR AS HEAVIER BAND OF PRECIPITATION WORKS INTO THE TAHOE
BASIN AND PARTS OF TWEB ROUTE 376 IN NORTHEAST CALIFORNIA LATE THIS
AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. RISING SNOW LEVELS WILL RESULT IN RAIN
AT ALL TAF SITES THROUGH THURSDAY WITH PERIODS OF SHOWERS/MVFR
CEILINGS SPILLING OVER INTO THE WESTERN NEVADA VALLEYS AFTER 01Z.
HOHMANN
&&

.REV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NV...SNOW ADVISORY NRN NVZ005 THROUGH 12 NOON PST TODAY.
     SNOW ADVISORY NVZ002 FROM 8 AM TODAY TO 10 AM THURSDAY
     ABOVE 7000 FEET.
CA...SNOW ADVISORY CAZ070 THROUGH 12 NOON PST TODAY.
     SNOW ADVISORY CAZ072 FROM 8 AM TODAY THROUGH 10 AM
     THURSDAY ABOVE 7000 FEET.
&&

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.

Avalanche, Mono

When: February 1, 9:00 AM PST
Where: Mono forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 37.939, -118.887 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Avalanche, Mono	2006-02-01	31	Female	Outside/Open Areas	Direct

What these are

Avalanche: A mass of snow sliding down a mountainside that caused a death, an injury or damage.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in California in 2006 Every state in 2006 This day in weather history Warnings in California, February 2006

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: 5489950.