A fast-moving low pressure system brought over two feet of snow to the northern and central Sierra and up to 6 inches of snowfall to far western Nevada.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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 fast-moving low pressure system brought over two feet of snow to the northern and central Sierra and up to 6 inches of snowfall to far 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 Mar 21, 1:40 PM PST, 5 hours 20 minutes earlier.
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html><!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 heavy snow, 1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Across Lassen County in the area around Portola and Bieber 12-hr snowfall totals of 2 to 3 inches were reported.
Storm-total snowfall reports: |3 miles southeast of Alpine Meadows (elev. 6600 ft), 25.0 inches; |Alpine Meadows Ski Resort, 24.0 inches; |Sierra-at-Tahoe Ski Resort, 19.0 inches; |3 miles ENE of Alpine Meadows (elev. 7000 ft), 18.0 inches; |4 miles WSW of Prosser Creek Reservoir (elev. 6600 ft), 18.0 inches; |Squaw Valley Ski Resort, 16.0 inches (elev. 8200 ft), 12.0 inches (elev. 6200 ft); |Homewood Ski Resort, 16.0 inches; |5 miles southwest of South Lake Tahoe (elev. 6400 ft). 16.0 inches; |Tahoe Donner ski area, 15.0 inches; |Northstar Ski Resort, 13.5 inches; |3 miles south of Truckee, 13.0 inches; |Tahoma (elev. 6340 ft), 13.0 inches; and |Camp Richardson (elev. 6230 ft), 12.0 inches.
A trained weather spotter located 1 mile WNW of Mammoth Lakes (elev. 8200 ft) reported 15.5 inches of snowfall.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in California, March 2009
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 160473, 160477, 160476.