A winter storm brought heavy snow and strong winds to the eastern Sierra Nevada. Strong winds, but smaller snowfall totals, were also reported in western Nevada.
Every event with a place to put it; 20 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 winter storm brought heavy snow and strong winds to the eastern Sierra Nevada. Strong winds, but smaller snowfall totals, were also reported in western 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 Reno, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 21, 4:00 PM PST, 9 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV
400 PM PST WED FEB 21 2007
.SHORT TERM...
COLD UPPER TROUGH CONTINUES TO DIG OFF THE CALIFORNIA COAST. THE
ONCE STATIONARY EAST/WEST FRONTAL BAND IS NOW STANDING UP ON ITSELF
AND BECOMING ORIENTED NORTH/SOUTH. THIS AMPLIFICATION HAS ALLOWED
TEMPS TO WARM A FEW DEGREES MORE THAN FORECAST AS THE WARM SECTOR
PUSHES NORTH INTO SOUTHERN OREGON. THIS PRECIP BAND WILL GRADUALLY
PROGRESS EAST OVERNIGHT INTO THE NORTHERN SIERRA BUT THE ORIENTATION
IS NOT IDEAL FOR PROLONGED HEAVY SNOW. THEREFORE ISSUED A SNOW
ADVISORY FOR THE SIERRA ZONES AS WIDESPREAD WARNING CRITERIA SNOW
LOOKS TO BE JUST SHY. A FEW INCHES OF SNOW POSSIBLE LATE TONIGHT IN
THE SIERRA WITH THE LEE SHADOWED OUT. THE HEAVIEST PRECIP WILL OCCUR
DURING THE DAY TOMORROW AS THE FRONT MOVES THROUGH REACHING THE RENO
AREA AROUND MID-DAY. SNOW SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE IN THE SIERRA
TOMORROW EVENING BUT AMOUNTS DONT LOOK IMPRESSIVE ENOUGH TO JUSTIFY
PROLONGING THE SNOW ADVISORY...ALTHOUGH SEVERAL INCHES ARE EXPECTED.
THIS IS A FAIRLY COLD STORM SO SNOW RATIOS WILL BE OPTIMAL FOR
ACCUMULATING SNOW AND DO EXPECT LOCALIZED AREAS TO RECEIVE WARNING
AMOUNTS.
THE NORTH/SOUTH ALIGNMENT OF THE FRONT IS NOT THE MOST CONDUCIVE FOR
LEE SIDE PRECIP. HOWEVER...DYNAMICS DO APPEAR STRONG ENOUGH TO BRING
SOME SHOWERS OVER THE CREST TOMORROW...ESPECIALLY DURING THE
AFTERNOON. THE FOOTHILLS COULD SEE UP TO A COUPLE OF INCHES INTO
FRIDAY MORNING WITH UP TO AN INCH OR SO ON VALLEY FLOORS WHICH VERY
WELL COULD OCCUR DURING THE AFTERNOON/EVENING DRIVE HOME...SO A SNOW
ADVISORY MAY BE NEEDED. SNOW BAND TO PUSH SOUTH INTO MONO COUNTY
LATE THU AFTERNOON INTO EARLY FRI MORNING WITH AMOUNTS SIMILAR TO
WHAT THE TAHOE BASIN SHOULD EXPECT.
WINDS...HAVE EXTENDED THE WIND ADVISORIES INTO LATER TOMORROW. WITH
LACK OF PRECIP BANKING UP AGAINST THE SIERRA FEEL ADVISORY HANDLES
THE SITUATION WELL. TODAYS HMT SUPPLEMENTAL SOUNDINGS SHOW THE
CRITICAL LEVEL NEAR RIDGETOP FROM THIS MORNING ERODE THROUGH TIME.
SO FEEL MORE CONFIDENT WARNING TYPE WINDS WOULD ONLY OCCUR JUST
PRIOR TO FRONTAL PASSAGE AND LIKELY NOT LAST LONG ENOUGH TO JUSTIFY
A WARNING. SIERRA RIDGE WINDS OVER THE NEXT 36 HOURS COULD STILL
GUST CLOSE TO 100 MPH.
TROUGH AXIS TO MOVE OVER THE REGION FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY NIGHT WITH
SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS CONTINUING WITHIN THE UNSTABLE COLD POOL. A
SECONDARY WAVE WITH WEAK OVERRUNNING TO PUSH INTO THE SIERRA AND
BRING ADDITIONAL SNOW SAT INTO SUNDAY MORNING MAINLY FROM ALPINE
COUNTY NORTH TO THE OREGON BORDER. AT THIS TIME AMOUNTS LOOK TO BE
AROUND 3-6 INCHES IN THE SIERRA WITH UP TO AN INCH OR SO IN THE LEE.
.LONG TERM...SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...
ADJUSTED POPS UP MONDAY AND TUESDAY...AND TRENDED HIGH TEMPS TO OR
SLIGHTLY BELOW THE LOW END OF THE ENSEMBLE MOS GUIDANCE.
OTHERWISE...ONLY COSMETIC GRID CHANGES IN THE EXTENDED.
A LARGE SCALE TROUGH STILL LOOKS TO BE OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC IN
THE EXTENDED...WITH 5 OF 12 12Z GFS ENSEMBLE MEMBERS AND ALL THE
CANADIAN ENSEMBLE MEMBERS COMING AROUND TO THE MORE INTERESTING (IF
YOU LIKE SNOW) ECMWF AND 12Z UKMET SOLUTION FOR EARLY NEXT WEEK. I
TRIED TO STAY AWAY FROM DETERMINISTIC FORECASTING (A GOOD IDEA
ANYWAY IN THE EXTENDED) GIVEN THE UNCERTAINTIES OF THE UNRESOLVED
SMALLER SCALE FEATURES LIKELY IN THE TROUGH PATTERN.
THEREFORE...I WENT ABOVE CLIMO POPS GIVEN THE EXPECTED TROUGHING...
WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE A GOOD CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION FOR THE
NORTHERN SIERRA AND A CHANCE FOR AREAS NEAR AND NORTH OF INTERSTATE
80 IN THE GREAT BASIN. WITH THIS THINKING IN MIND...I ALSO ADJUSTED
HIGH TEMPS DOWN TO OR A BIT BELOW THE LOW END OF THE 00Z GFS
ENSEMBLE MOS GUIDANCE AND NUDGED A FEW LOWS UP TO THE HIGHER END OF
THAT GUIDANCE WITH CLOUDS AND PRECIP EXPECTED. IT COULD BE AN
INTERESTING FIRST HALF OF NEXT WEEK SNYDER
&&
.AVIATION...
COLD FRONT EXTENDING THROUGH SOUTHERN IDAHO AND OREGON TO THE
EASTERN PACIFIC WEST OF ARCATA WILL APPROACH THE SIERRA LATE TONIGHT
AND MOVE INTO CENTRAL NEVADA THURSDAY AFTERNOON. THIS WILL BRING
DETERIORATING CONDITIONS TO THE NORTHERN SIERRA WITH SNOW DEVELOPING
LATE TONIGHT...SPREADING SOUTH AND EAST INTO MONO COUNTY AND NEVADA
DURING THE DAY THURSDAY. CEILINGS AND VISIBILITIES WILL CRASH TO
020/1SM OR LOWER IN THE SIERRA AS SNOW DEVELOPS...WITH SOME CEILINGS
BELOW 030/VISIBILITIES BELOW 3SM EXPECTED IN THE GREAT BASIN AS COLD
FRONT SN/SNRA AND POST-FRONTAL SHSN MOVE THROUGH. SNYDER
&&
.REV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NV...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 12 PM THURSDAY FOR NVZ003 AND NVZ005.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 4 AM PST THURSDAY FOR NVZ002.
SNOW ADVISORY FROM 4 AM TO 6 PM THURSDAY FOR NVZ002.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM PST THURSDAY FOR NVZ001-004.
CA...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 4 AM THURSDAY FOR CAZ071.
SNOW ADVISORY FROM 4 AM TO 4 PM THURSDAY FOR CAZ071.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 12 PM THURSDAY FOR CAZ070.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 4 AM THURSDAY FOR CAZ072.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 12 PM THURSDAY FOR CAZ073.
SNOW ADVISORY FROM 4 AM TO 6 PM FOR CAZ072.
SNOW ADVISORY FROM 12 PM THURSDAY TO 2 AM FRIDAY FOR CAZ073.
&&
HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/RENOThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
20 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
A weather spotter near Tahoma reported 12 inches of snowfall at an elevation of 6350 feet. At times the snowfall rate was approximately 2 inches per hour.
A weather spotter 4 miles SSW of Prosser Creek Reservoir reported a total of 8.5 inches of snowfall at an elevation of 6300 feet.
A weather spotter 3 miles west of Portola reported 8 inches of snowfall at an elevation of 5000 feet.
A weather spotter near Tahoe City reported a total of 13 inches of snowfall at an elevation of 7000 feet.
A weather spotter 3 miles west of Kingvale reported a total of 14.5 inches of snowfall at an elevation of 6200 feet.
Tahoe Donner ski area reported a total of 9 inches of snowfall at an elevation of 6500 feet.
A weather spotter 3 miles east of Bieber reported 7 inches of snowfall.
A weather spotter 8 miles west of Susanville reported 9.5 inches of snowfall.
A weather spotter 5 miles WSW of Beckwourth reported a total of 12 inches of snowfall.
Alpine Meadows Ski Resort reported a total of 30 inches of snowfall.
Northstar-at-Tahoe Ski Resort reported a total of 13 inches of snowfall.
Kirkwood Ski Resort reported a total of 48 inches of snowfall.
Sugar Bowl ski area reported a total of 28 inches of snowfall at an elevation of 8400 feet, with 18 inches of snow at 6900 feet.
Squaw Valley Ski Resort reported a total of 24 inches of snowfall at an elevation of 8200 feet, with 14 inches of snow at 6200 feet.
A weather spotter at South Lake Tahoe reported a total of 14.5 inches of snowfall.
Homewood ski area reported a total of 32 inches of snowfall at an elevation of 7900 feet, with 16 inches at 6250 feet.
A weather spotter in Graeagle reported a total of 12 inches of snowfall at an elevation of 4350 feet.
A weather spotter north of June Lake reported 8 inches of snowfall from this storm.
Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort reported a total of 15 inches of snowfall at an elevation of 9000 feet.
A weather observer in Mammoth Lakes reported a total of 6 inches of snowfall.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in California, February 2007
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: 14106, 14107, 14109, 14110, 14111, 14112, 14113, 14114, 14115, 14116, 14117, 14118, 14119, 14121, 14122, 14124, 14125, 14108, 14120, 14123.