Gusty winds accompanied a cold front as it pushed through western Nevada.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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.
Gusty winds accompanied a cold front as it pushed through 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 Apr 23, 1:45 PM PST, 1 hour 6 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV
245 PM PDT WED APR 23 2008
.SHORT TERM...
UPPER LEVEL LOW CONTINUES ITS SLOW MOVEMENT INTO THE PAC NW WITH
SHORTWAVE TROUGH CURRENTLY ROUNDING ITS BASE INTO NORTHERN CA.
SATELLITE AND RADAR ARE INDICATING SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS MOVING
INTO THE NORTHERN SIERRA WHILE MORE ISOLATED SHOWER ACTIVITY WAS
OCCURRING IN MONO COUNTY ALONG THE CREST. WINDS HAVE ALSO PICKED UP
THIS AFTERNOON AS MID LEVEL WINDS MIX DOWN ALONG THE RIDGE TOPS AND
LEE SLOPES AND COLD FRONT MOVES SOUTH ACROSS THE AREA. EXTENDED THE
WIND ADVISORIES UNTIL 04Z THIS EVENING BEFORE WINDS DROP OFF BELOW
ADVISORY LEVELS LATER TONIGHT. WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED
IN THE RENO AREA THIS EVENING. GFS AND NAM TAKE SHORTWAVE TROUGH
ACROSS THE NORTHERN ZONES THIS EVENING AND EXITING THE REGION BY
TOMORROW MORNING. EXPECT SCATTERED SNOW SHOWER ACTIVITY TO CONTINUE
ALONG THE SIERRA CREST FROM LAKE TAHOE NORTH AND ACROSS NORTHWESTERN
NV NORTH OF GERLACH THROUGH MIDNIGHT. SHORTWAVE TROUGH LIFTS OUT OF
THE AREA LATER TONIGHT ALLOWING WINDS TO DECOUPLE AND PRECIP TO END.
RIDGING OFF THE WEST COAST WILL MAKE ITS WAY EASTWARD THROUGH
SATURDAY BRINGING WARMER TEMPERATURES TO THE AREA. THURSDAY LOOKS
TO BE A PLEASANT DAY WITH VALLEY TEMPS WARMING UP INTO THE LOWER
60S. WEAK SHORTWAVE TROUGH WILL MOVE ACROSS THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
ON FRIDAY FLATTENING THE RIDGE OVER THE WESTERN U.S. EXPECT
INCREASED CLOUD COVER ACROSS THE NORTHERN ZONES AND BREEZY
CONDITIONS TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE AREA. TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE TO
WARM EACH DAY WITH WESTERN NV VALLEYS REACHING THE MID 70S BY
SATURDAY AND AREAS IN THE SIERRA INTO THE LOWER 60S. MOZLEY
.LONG TERM...SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...
TEMPERATURE ROLLER COAST EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE LONG TERM.
MODELS SEEM TO BE IN GOOD AGREEMENT...WITH CONFIDENCE AT OR ABOVE
NORMAL THROUGH THE LONG TERM. BY SUNDAY...THE HIGHLY AMPLIFIED UPPER
LEVEL RIDGE OVER THE WEST COAST WILL BEGIN TO PUSH EAST AS AN
UPPER TROUGH OVER THE EAST PAC DEEPENS. 700MB TEMPS OVER THE AREA
WILL BE ANYWHERE FROM +4 TO +6 DEGREES CELSIUS...MEANING HIGH
TEMPERATURES IN THE DESERT VALLEYS COULD REACH EASILY INTO THE UPPER
70S ON SUNDAY...WITH UPPER 60S IN THE SIERRA VALLEYS. NOT READY TO
BUMP TEMPS QUITE AS HIGH AS MOS YET...BUT TRENDED TOWARDS GFS.
SUNDAY LOOKS TO BE THE WARMEST DAY IN THE LONG TERM...WITH STEADY
COOLING THROUGH MIDWEEK.
THE UPPER TROUGH OVER THE EAST PAC WILL MOVE INTO THE WEST COAST BY
EARLY NEXT WEEK. LOWERING HEIGHTS WILL USHER IN SOME COOLER AIR EACH
DAY...WITH WINDS INCREASING FROM THE PRESSURE GRADIENT RESPONSE.
TUESDAY COULD TURN OUT TO BE A FAIRLY WINDY DAY AS THE JET MAX MOVES
DIRECTLY OVER THE RENO-TAHOE AREA.
PRECIP LOOKS DEFINITELY POSSIBLE WITH THE INCOMING TROUGH...MAINLY
IN THE SIERRA. ALTHOUGH NOT REALLY LOOKING FOR ANY SIGNIFICANT
PRECIP AT THIS TIME. BY WEDNESDAY...THE GFS AND ECMWF ARE BOTH
SUGGESTING 700 MB TEMPS LESS THAN -10C...A HUGE DROP FROM SUNDAY.
EXPECT TEMPS TO DROP BACK TO BELOW NORMAL BY MIDWEEK. ALL WE CAN DO
IS SIT BACK AND ENJOY THE SPRING RIDE. HOON
&&
.AVIATION...
STRONG GUSTY WINDS WILL CONTINUE AT ALL LOCAL TERMINALS THROUGH THE
EVENING. SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE IN THE SIERRA...
TAPERING OFF AFTER 03Z. BY 06Z...EXPECT WINDS TO DROP OFF
SIGNIFICANTLY WITH SKIES CLEARING OUT FOR THE MOST PART. HOON
&&
.REV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NV...LAKE WIND UNTIL 9 PM PDT THIS EVENING FOR NVZ004.
LAKE WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 9 PM PDT THIS EVENING FOR NVZ002.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 9 PM PDT THIS EVENING FOR NVZ003.
CA...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 9 PM PDT THIS EVENING FOR CAZ073.
LAKE WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 9 PM PDT THIS EVENING FOR CAZ072.
&&
HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/RENOPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV
342 PM PDT WED APR 23 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1202 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 5 E GARDNERVILLE 38.94N 119.65W
04/23/2008 M49.00 MPH DOUGLAS NV TRAINED SPOTTER
1220 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 5 WSW GARDNERVILLE 38.91N 119.83W
04/23/2008 M55.00 MPH DOUGLAS NV TRAINED SPOTTER
0136 PM NON-TSTM WND GST RENO 39.54N 119.82W
04/23/2008 M46.00 MPH WASHOE NV ASOS
WIND GUST MEASURED AT THE RENO-TAHOE INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT.
0202 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 5 N RENO 39.61N 119.82W
04/23/2008 M52.00 MPH WASHOE NV OFFICIAL NWS OBS
WIND GUST MEASURED AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE
IN RENO, NV. SUSTAINED WINDS OF 35MPH.
0215 PM NON-TSTM WND GST WALKER 38.52N 119.48W
04/23/2008 M47.00 MPH MONO CA PARK/FOREST SRVC
MEASURED AT WALKER RAWS SITE AT 5440 FT.
0218 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 3 S WASHOE CITY 39.28N 119.81W
04/23/2008 M55.00 MPH WASHOE NV DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
MEASURED BY NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION SENSOR
ALONG U.S. HWY 395 IN WASHOE VALLEY.
&&
BRONGThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Nevada DOT sensor along U.S. Highway 395 in Washoe Valley recorded a wind gust of 55 knots (63 mph).
The Galena RAWS recorded a wind gust of 53 knots (61 mph).
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, April 2008
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: 84068, 84069.