An area of low pressure and associated cold front moved through the Sierra Nevada and western Nevada, bringing moderate amounts of snowfall to the region.
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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.
An area of low pressure and associated cold front moved through the Sierra Nevada and western Nevada, bringing moderate amounts of snowfall to the region.
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, 3:32 AM PST, 10 hours 28 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV 332 AM PST THU FEB 21 2008 .SHORT TERM... PROGRESSIVE SHORTWAVE RIDGE IS QUICKLY PUSHING EAST OF THE AREA WITH THE NEXT PAC STORM SYSTEM JUST OFF SHORE OF NORTHERN CA EXPECTED TO MOVE IN THROUGH THE DAY. HIGH CLOUDS HAVE SPREAD ACROSS THE WESTERN HALF OF THE CWA...AND WILL CONTINUE TO INCREASE THROUGH THE DAY FROM WEST TO EAST AHEAD OF THE APPROACHING SHORTWAVE TROUGH. WITH MODEL QPF TRENDING HIGHER THAN PREVIOUS RUNS...DECIDED TO GO WITH A SNOW ADVISORY FOR THE SIERRA ZONES FROM NOON TODAY THROUGH 4 AM FRIDAY MORNING. SEE /WSWREV/ FOR DETAILS. THE STRONG ZONAL JET STREAM WILL PUSH INTO CENTRAL CA THIS AFTERNOON...WITH GOOD DIFFLUENCE ALOFT SETTING UP OVER THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL SIERRA THIS AFTERNOON AS THE SHORTWAVE TROUGH BECOMES NEGATIVELY TILTED. ZONAL JET WILL BRING MUCH BETTER MOISTURE TAP ONSHORE...WITH 0.75 TO 1.0 INCHES PRECIPITABLE WATER OFF THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA COAST. LATEST GFS IS SHOWING EXCELLENT INSTABILITY AHEAD OF THE SHORTWAVE...WITH STRONG SIGNAL OF ELEVATED CAPE VALUES WITHIN THE DENDRITIC SNOW GROWTH ZONE OF OVER 100 JOULES/KG...STARTING OVER THE LAKE TAHOE AREA AND THEN DROPPING INTO MONO COUNTY BY EARLY EVENING. LOW LEVEL FRONTOGENESIS IS ALSO SHOWING A STRONG SIGNAL ALONG THE CREST. BASICALLY... THIS WILL ALL TRANSLATE INTO A PERIOD OF HEAVY SNOW SOMETIME IN THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING IN THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL SIERRA. EAST OF THE SIERRA...LOOKS LIKE A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW FOR TODAY. BUMPED UP SNOW LEVELS ACROSS MOST OF THE CWA AS MODELS ARE TRENDING WARMER. MOST DESERT VALLEYS WILL SEE RAIN TODAY AND TONIGHT FOR THE MOST PART...WITH UP TO ONE INCH OF SNOW ACCUMULATION ABOVE 5000 FEET. SNOW LEVELS WILL COME DOWN TO BELOW 4500 FEET BY EARLY FRIDAY MORNING. FRIDAY AFTERNOON...ANOTHER QUICK SHOT OF SNOW AND RAIN AS A SECONDARY LITTLE SHORTWAVE MOVES THROUGH THE AREA. SNOW LEVELS WILL BE BE AROUND 4500 FEET RISING THROUGH THE DAY. WE WILL RIDGE UP FRIDAY NIGHT WITH A LITTLE BREAK IN THE ACTION BEFORE THE MONSTER MOVES IN FOR THE WEEKEND. HOON LONG TERM...SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY... MODELS REMAIN IN GOOD AGREEMENT FOR THE MAIN SYSTEM THIS WEEKEND. SO CONFIDENCE CONTINUES TO INCREASE IN THIS STORM...BUT MODELS ARE ALSO CONTINUING TO INDICATE SLIGHTLY WARMER AIRMASS AND AREAS EAST OF THE SIERRA STAYING IN THE WARM SECTOR LONGER INTO THE EVNG HOURS SAT BEFORE CHANGING TO MOSTLY SNOW BY SUN MRNG. OVERALL BEST QPF WILL BE IN THE SIERRA SAT NIGHT AND SUN MRNG WITH SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL LIKELY. WILL PROBABLY NEED TO ISSUE WATCHES BY EARLY FRI MRNG FOR THE SAT NIGHT/SUN TIME FRAME. ECMWF IS A LITTLE SLOWER BRINGING PCPN INTO THE REGION SAT THAN GFS AND HAVE OPTED TO HAVE SLIGHTLY LOWER POPS FOR THE DAYTIME HOURS SAT. AND AS STATED ANY PCPN THAT FALLS EAST OF THE SIERRA SHOULD START AS RAIN. SNOW LEVELS SHOULD START AROUND 5500 FEET OR HIGHER SAT EVNG THEN FALL BY SUNDAY TO NEAR THE VALLEY FLOORS. RECENT MODELS RUNS HAVE BEEN GRADUALLY RAISING SNOW LEVELS BUT THINK LEVELS COULD FALL RATHER QUICKLY AS PCPN BEGINS. SOME QUESTION REMAINS ABOUT TIMING OF SPILLOVER AND WILL NOT ADDRESS THAT THIS FAR OUT. ANOTHER CONCERN FOR SATURDAY AND SAT EVNG IS WIND POTENTIAL FOR THE LEE SIDE. MODELS...ESPECIALLY THE GFS...INDICATE H7 WINDS OF AROUND 50 KTS BY LATE SAT AFTN. FORECAST SOUNDINGS DO NOT SEEM TO INDICATE MUCH OF A CRITICAL LEVEL DEVELOPING ON SAT AND WITH WAA ALOFT THROUGH MUCH OF THE DAY...NOT SURE HOW WELL WINDS WILL MIX DOWN. SOUNDINGS SHOW AIRMASS MOISTENING BY LATE EVENING SO THINK PCPN WOULD BE INTO WRN NV BY THEN WITH LESS CHANCE FOR WIND. THIS WILL HAVE TO BE WATCHED CLOSELY NEXT FEW RUNS. QPF AMOUNTS IN THE SIERRA MAY APPROACH 1 1/2 INCHES IN THE HIGHEST ELEVATIONS SO SNOW FALL COULD EASILY REACH AROUND 2 FEET OR MORE IN THE HIGHEST ELEVATIONS. WILL COVER THIS AGAIN WITH SPS. PCPN SHOULD LINGER INTO EARLY SUN AFTN ACROSS MOST OF THE CWA WITH SNOW LEVELS FALLING TO THE VALLEY FLOORS BRIEFLY BEFORE RISING AGAIN LATE IN THE AFTN. MODELS HAVE BEEN CONSISTENT IN SHOWING HIGHS FOR SUN INTO THE 40S EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS...SO AM NOT CONVINCED ACCUMULATIONS EAST OF THE MTNS WILL BE THAT GREAT. THIS SYSTEM SHOULD LIFT OUT OF THE REGION BY LATE SUNDAY WITH LONG WAVE RIDGE STARTING TO DEVELOP ALONG THE WEST COAST BY EARLY MON. OVERNIGHT LOWS SUN NIGHT/MON MRNG COULD BE RATHER COOL WITH LOW LVL NORTHERLY FLOW DEVELOPING...BUT THEN RIDGE BEGINS TO BUILD OVER THE AREA AND TEMPS SHOULD START TO RISE. MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW LOW LVL WINDS MORE E TO SE BY LATE MON INTO TUE INDICATING LESS CHANCE OF TRAPPING COLD AIR IN THE VALLEYS UNDER A SIG INVERSION. SO WILL BEGIN TO INDICATE RISING TEMPS FOR TUE AND WED...BUT STILL NOT QUITE AS WARM AS GUIDANCE. MLF && AVIATION... FOG IN THE KTRK VICINITY THIS MRNG WITH MAINLY VFR CONDITIONS ELSEWHERE. THE FOG AROUND KTRK WILL LIFT SHORTLY AFTER SUNRISE. CONDITIONS IN THE SIERRA WILL BEGIN TO DETERIORATE LATER TODAY WITH SNOW PUSHING INTO THE RGN. CIGS/VSBYS SHOULD FALL TO AROUND 1000 FT/1 MILE OR LESS EARLY THIS AFTN. PCPN WILL BE SLOW TO PUSH EAST OF THE MTNS SO BOTH KRNO AND KLOL WILL REMAIN VFR INTO THE EARLY EVNG BEFORE CONDITIONS DETERIORATE. EXPECT MVFR CONDITIONS BY AROUND 06 UTC FOR KRNO THEN OCCASIONAL IFR AFTER THAT. KLOL WILL SEE MVFR A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER. MLF && .REV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NV...SNOW ADVISORY FROM NOON TODAY TO 4 AM PST FRIDAY FOR NVZ002. CA...SNOW ADVISORY FROM NOON TODAY TO 4 AM PST FRIDAY FOR CAZ071>073. && HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/RENO
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Diamond Peak Ski Resort reported a storm total of 12 inches of snowfall.
A trained weather spotter located 5 miles east of Gardnerville reported a total of 5 inches of snowfall.
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, February 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: 112498, 112500.