The same low pressure system which produced strong winds in the Sierra two days earlier produced a band of heavy snow in Lincoln County Nevada.
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 VEF wrote it up.
The same low pressure system which produced strong winds in the Sierra two days earlier produced a band of heavy snow in Lincoln County Nevada.
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 Dec 16, 8:50 PM PST, 2 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 850 PM PST SAT DEC 16 2006 .SYNOPSIS...A COLD STORM SYSTEM WILL AFFECT MUCH OF THE MOJAVE DESERT AND SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. THIS STORM WILL BRING COLDER TEMPERATURES...LOCALLY WINDY CONDITIONS...AND CHANCES FOR RAIN AND SNOW. LIGHT SNOW SHOWERS MAY FALL IN SOME OF THE DESERT AREAS. THE STORM WILL MOVE AWAY BY THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK...HOWEVER TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN BELOW NORMAL. && .UPDATE...TROUGH AXIS ALONG THE CALIFORNIA COAST AT 00Z SUNDAY TO SLOWLY TRANSITION EAST OVERNIGHT WITH BOTH 00Z NAM/GFS SHOWING CLOSED LOW OVER SOUTH CENTRAL NEVADA BY 12Z SUNDAY. BOTH MODELS SHOWING MAIN PRECIPITATION BAND TO BE OVER CENTRAL NYE AND LINCOLN COUNTY THROUGH 12Z WHICH LINES UP WELL WITH WEAK FRONTOGENESIS ...OMEGA AND LENDS ITSELF TO KEEPING THE SNOW ADVISORY OUT FOR THIS AREA. SPORADIC SHOWERS AROUND THE REST OF THE CWA TO CONTINUE WITH ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION AS WEAK INSTABILITY MOVES ACROSS THE AREA WITH CAA. REPORTS OF LIGHT SNOW IN THE YUCCA VALLEY AREA...AROUND 2K FEET AND DESERT ROCK AT AROUND 3K FEET SHOWS THAT LIGHT SNOW POSSIBLE IN HIGHER DESERT VALLEYS LOOKS GOOD. WIND ADVISORY FOR SAN BERNARDINO AND MOHAVE COUNTY WILL EXPIRE AT 10 PM PST. MAY NEED TO EXTEND ACROSS SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY AS 11MB GRADIENT BETWEEN THE COAST AND KLAS. OVERALL CURRENT FORECAST IS PRETTY MUCH ON TRACK IN THE SHORT TERM. WILL BE UPDATING STATEMENTS/ZONES LATER AND WILL ADJUST FIRST TERM TO MATCH CURRENT AND REMAINDER OF THE NIGHT CONDITIONS. .AVIATION...ISOLATED RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS ACROSS THE ROUTES THROUGH THE NIGHT LOCALLY LOWERING CIGS BELOW 4000 FEET AND VSBY BELOW 5SM...ALTHOUGH PRIMARY CONDITIONS TO REMAIN ABOVE 6000 FEET. GUSTY SURFACE WINDS EXPECTED THROUGH 10Z ACROSS DAGGETT CORRIDOR. CONDITIONS IMPROVING AFTER 14Z ALL ROUTES...BUT ISOLATED SHOWERS TO CONTINUE...MAINLY PEACH SPRINGS AND MORMON MESA ROUTES AND SOUTHERN NEVADA MOUNTAINS THROUGH 00Z MON. TAFS AND TWEBS ADEQUATELY DESCRIBE EXPECTED WEATHER CONDITIONS FOR AREA TERMINALS. SEE TAFS FOR KLAS...KVGT...KDRA...KBIH...KDAG...KEED FOR DETAILS. AVIATION DISCUSSION NOT UPDATED FOR AMENDED TAFS. && .PREV DISCUSSION...310 PM PST SHORT TERM...COLD UPPER TROUGH MOVING THROUGH CALIFORNIA THIS AFTERNOON WILL MOVE INTO NEVADA TONIGHT AS IT CLOSES OFF AND IS THEN FORECAST TO SAG SLOWLY SOUTH INTO SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA AND FAR SOUTHERN NEVADA SUNDAY NIGHT. UNSETTLED AND COOL WEATHER EXPECTED THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. STRONG SOUTHWEST WINDS ALOFT OUT AHEAD OF THE SYSTEM THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT NOT SURFACING IN MANY VALLEY LOCATIONS. HOWEVER SOME OBSERVATIONS FROM THE WESTERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY AND SOUTHERN MOHAVE COUNTY INDICATE SOME WINDY CONDITIONS THERE. REPORTS FROM TWENTY NINE PALMS AND YUCCA VALLEY OF BLOWING DUST AND DEBRIS. WIND SPEEDS STILL UNDER ADVISORY CRITERIA BUT WILL CONTINUE WIND ADVISORY AS SURFACE PRESSURES STILL FORECAST TO FALL OVER NORTHERN MOHAVE COUNTY WITH STRONG 850 AND 700 MB WINDS PROGGED THROUGH THIS EVENING. MEANWHILE A NICE BAND OF LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE COMBINED WITH FAIRLY STEEP LAPSE RATES AND DEEP MOISTURE LAYER FORECAST BY GFS AND NAM ACROSS LINCOLN AND CENTRAL NYE COUNTIES UP INTO ESMERALDA COUNTY LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT. MODEL QPF AMOUNTS FAIRLY IMPRESSIVE AND WILL KEEP SNOW ADVISORY FOR LINCOLN COUNTY AND ADD CENTRAL NYE AND ESMERALDA COUNTY TO THE ADVISORY. ELSEWHERE EXPECT SOME SHOWERS TO DEVELOP TONIGHT BUT MUCH MORE UNCERTAINTY. WITH THE UPPER LOW OVER THE FORECAST AREA SUNDAY...ALL ZONES WILL HAVE SOME CHANCE OF RAIN OR SNOW SHOWERS WITH SNOW LEVELS LOWERING CLOSE TO 2500-3000 FEET. FORCING NOT AS STRONG AS TONIGHT BUT HIGHER TERRAIN ACROSS LINCOLN AND NORTHERN MOHAVE COUNTY LOOK TO HAVE THE BEST CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION INCLUDING A COUPLE INCHES OF SNOW. MODELS ARE TRENDING PRETTY DRY SUNDAY NIGHT AS THE LOW SAGS INTO SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA. TRENDED POPS DOWNWARD COMPARED TO SUNDAY BUT STILL LEFT AT LEAST A BROADBRUSH 20 TO 30 PERCENT EVERYWHERE. ALTHOUGH DYNAMICS MAY BE A BIT WEAKER...COLD POOL ALOFT WITH UPPER LOW OVERHEAD SHOULD KEEP SOME SHOWERS GOING. .LONG TERM...COMPLEX WEATHER SITUATION CONTINUES MONDAY AND TUESDAY WITH STRONG COLD LOW PRESSURE OVER THE DESERT SOUTHWEST. WITH THE LOW CENTERED OVER THE SOUTHERN CWA DURING THIS TIME FRAME...A CHANCE OF SHOWERS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER MUCH OF THE REGION MONDAY AND TUESDAY NEAR AND TO THE EAST AND NORTH OF THE LOW CENTER. POP GRID BASICALLY UNCHANGED FROM PREVIOUS FORECAST PACKAGE LEAVING THE FAR WEST AND NORTHWEST DRY. NORTHERLY WINDS MAY ALSO BECOME AN ISSUE MONDAY. BREEZY TO LOCALLY WINDY CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE AND MAY REQUIRE A LAKE WIND ADVISORY IF MODEL FORECASTS REMAIN UNCHANGED. AFTER TUESDAY...THE LOW QUICKLY EJECTS EAST AND THEN NORTHEAST AWAY FROM THE AREA. THIS LEAVES A NORTHERLY FLOW ALOFT OVER THE CWA THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK WHICH WILL JUST REINFORCE THE COOL AIR AND HOLD TEMPERATURES DOWN. THE LATEST 18Z GFS NOW SHOWS THE FRIDAY SYSTEM MENTIONED BY THE PREVIOUS LONG TERM FORECASTER MOVING THRU THE AREA FRIDAY AND BRINGING A SHOT OF PRECIP TO THE NORTH AND EASTERN CWA. THIS MATCHES THE 12Z ECMWF MODEL SOLUTION BUT HAVE IGNORED FOR NOW TO SEE IF THIS SOLUTION BECOMES CONSISTENT. EXPECT TEMPERATURES TO REMAIN BELOW NORMAL THROUGH WEDNESDAY WITH SOME WARMING TO NEAR NORMAL THURSDAY. && .VEF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... .NV...SNOW ADVISORY UNTIL 4 AM PST SUNDAY ZONES 14 AND 15. .AZ...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 11 PM MST ZONE 3. .CA...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 10 PM PST ZONES 523 AND 525. JENSEN/HARRISON/SALMEN HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/LASVEGAS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 1038 AM PST SAT DEC 16 2006 AZZ001>003-036-CAZ519>527-NVZ014>022-170945- NORTHWEST PLATEAU-LOWER COLORADO RIVER VALLEY-NORTHWEST DESERTS- LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA-EASTERN SIERRA SLOPES- OWENS VALLEY-WHITE MOUNTAINS OF INYO COUNTY- DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK-WESTERN MOJAVE DESERT- EASTERN MOJAVE DESERT-MORONGO BASIN-CADIZ BASIN- SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY-UPPER COLORADO RIVER VALLEY- ESMERALDA AND CENTRAL NYE COUNTY-LINCOLN COUNTY- NORTHEAST CLARK COUNTY-WESTERN CLARK AND SOUTHERN NYE COUNTY- SHEEP RANGE-SPRING MOUNTAINS-LAS VEGAS VALLEY- SOUTHERN CLARK COUNTY- 1038 AM PST SAT DEC 16 2006 /1138 AM MST SAT DEC 16 2006/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST ARIZONA...CALIFORNIA AND SOUTHERN NEVADA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A COLD LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL APPROACH THE AREA FROM THE WEST TODAY AND MOVE INTO NEVADA TONIGHT. STRONG SOUTHWESTERLY WINDS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE PORTIONS OF THE MOJAVE DESERT THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. MEANWHILE RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS WILL DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE TONIGHT ACROSS THE SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN. A WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING FOR WESTERN PORTIONS OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY AND FOR THE SOUTHERN MOJAVE COUNTY DESERTS. A SNOW ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR LINCOLN COUNTY LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THE COLD LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL LINGER OVER THE AREA INTO TUESDAY CREATING A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS AND COOL CONDITIONS. SNOW LEVELS WILL LOWER TO BETWEEN 2000 AND 3000 FEET BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BRING A DRYING AND WARMING TREND FOR THE MID TO LATE PART OF THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER THIS WEEKEND ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Storm total of 13 inches in Pioche.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, 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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 4763.