A Pacific storm system and associated cold front brought snow to the higher terrain of the southern Great Basin and locally high winds to the Mojave Desert.
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 VEF wrote it up.
A Pacific storm system and associated cold front brought snow to the higher terrain of the southern Great Basin and locally high winds to the Mojave Desert.
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 24, 7:18 PM PST, 5 hours 8 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 718 PM PST WED DEC 24 2014 .SYNOPSIS...A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA TONIGHT BRINGING STRONG WINDS TO PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN NEVADA AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA. SNOW SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED IN THE SIERRA THIS EVENING AND ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN ON CHRISTMAS DAY. MUCH COLDER AIR WILL SETTLE INTO THE REGION BEHIND THE COLD FRONT ON CHRISTMAS DAY WITH BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES LINGERING THROUGH THE WEEKEND. NORTHERLY FLOW AND ANOTHER SYSTEM PROMISES MORE COLD WEATHER NEXT WEEK. && .UPDATE...BAND OF HIGH CLOUDS THAT HAS HUNG AROUND MOST OF THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING CONTINUES TO PUSH EAST AND IS MAINLY COVERING MOHAVE COUNTY. OUTSIDE OF SOME LOWER CLOUDS ACROSS NORTHERN INYO AND ESMERALDA COUNTY...SKIES ARE MAINLY CLEAR THIS EVENING. THESE CLOUDS WILL GRADUALLY FILL IN LATER TONIGHT AS A COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH THE REGION...BUT FOR NOW WILL MAKE A FEW CHANGES TO THE FORECAST AND REMOVE THE MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES. SOUTHWEST WINDS AHEAD OF THIS FRONT HAVE ALSO BEEN SLOW TO DEVELOP AND WILL BACK OFF ON THE TIMING OF THE WINDS FOR AT LEAST A COUPLE OF HOURS. NEW MODEL RUNS SUGGEST THAT THE WIND ADVISORY MAY NEED TO BE EXTENDED FOR TOMORROW AFTERNOON. WILL MAKE THAT DECISION LATER THIS EVENING WHEN MORE MODELS ARE AVAILABLE. && .AVIATION...FOR MCCARRAN...MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES THIS EVENING WITH PREFRONTAL SOUTHWESTERLY WINDS OF 8 TO 12 KTS WITH GUSTS TO 20 KTS WILL DEVELOPING LATER THIS EVENING.WINDS WILL TRANSITION TO NORTHWESTERLY WITH FROPA BETWEEN 10Z-12Z THURSDAY. WINDS BEHIND THE FRONT THURSDAY WILL GENERALLY BE 15-25 KTS WITH GUSTS TO 40 KTS WITH SOME DECREASE IN GUST SPEEDS LATE IN THE AFTERNOON. FOR THE REST OF SOUTHERN NEVADA...NORTHWEST ARIZONA...AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA...SHOWERS AND MOUNTAIN OBSCURATIONS OVER THE SIERRA THIS EVENING AND THEN SPREADING INTO CENTRAL NYE AND NORTHERN LINCOLN COUNTIES OVERNIGHT AND EVENTUALLY REACHING NORTHERN MOHAVE COUNTY BY CHRISTMAS MORNING. SOUTH TO SOUTHWESTERLY SURFACE WINDS WILL INCREASE THIS EVENING ACROSS THE DESERTS WITH GUSTY NORTH WINDS MOVING INTO THE NORTHWEST CWA SPREADING SOUTH OVERNIGHT. WIDESPREAD GUSTY NORTH WINDS ARE EXPECTED CHRISTMAS DAY. && PREV DISCUSSION 237 PM PST WED DEC 24 2014 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT. ABUNDANT CLOUD COVER TODAY HAS HINDERED DAYTIME HEATING AND HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE LIKELY TO FALL SHORT OF FORECASTED NUMBERS. IN AREAS WHERE CLOUDS WERE LESS OPAQUE...SUCH AS THE WESTERN MOJAVE DESERT, TEMPERATURES WERE WARMING AT A QUICKER PACE AND SHOULD GET CLOSER TO FORECASTED HIGHS. SKIES WERE CLEARING OVER THE NORTHWEST CWA AT 2 PM AS ABUNDANT LOW-MID LEVEL MOISTURE WAS GETTING BLOCKED BY THE SIERRA RANGE AND HIGH CLOUD COVER WAS MOVING OFF TO THE SOUTH AND EAST. WINTER WAS DELAYED BY ONLY A FEW DAYS ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA AS A RELATIVELY MILD STRETCH OF WEATHER COMES TO AN ABRUPT END. A STORM CURRENTLY OVER NORTHERN CALIFORNIA IS EXPECTED TO BRING WINDY AND CHILLER WEATHER TO THE AREA BEGINNING TONIGHT AND CONTINUING THROUGH FRIDAY. WIND ADVISORIES ARE IN PLACE ACROSS MUCH OF THE WESTERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA LATER THIS EVENING THROUGH CHRISTMAS MORNING. WIND GUSTS BETWEEN 40-50 MPH ARE EXPECTED AND WILL MAKE TEMPERATURES FEEL MUCH COOLER THAN THEY ACTUALLY ARE. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY WILL ALSO GO INTO EFFECT FOR LINCOLN COUNTY LATER THIS EVENING AND CONTINUE INTO CHRISTMAS MORNING. GENERALLY...LESS THAN 3 INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED BUT AN INCH OR TWO MORE COULD ACCUMULATE IN THE HIGHER TERRAIN OVER NORTHERN LINCOLN COUNTY. THE AIRMASS IS COLD ENOUGH THAT SNOW IS LIKELY AT THE VALLEY FLOORS. THE SIERRA COULD GET A QUICK SHOT OF SNOW THIS EVENING WITH UP TO 4 INCHES POSSIBLE AT THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS. FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN MOUNTAINS INCLUDING THE SPRING MOUNTAINS AND SHEEP RANGE, AN INCH OR TWO OF SNOW IS POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT INTO EARLY THURSDAY. BRISK NORTH WINDS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE REGION ON CHRISTMAS DAY WITH SCATTERED CLOUDS AND A FEW SNOW SHOWERS MAINLY OVER THE CENTRAL NEVADA MOUNTAINS. TEMPERATURES WILL GENERALLY BE AROUND 5 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL BUT THE WINDS WILL MAKE IT FEEL COOLER. WINDS WILL DECREASE THURSDAY AFTERNOON BUT REMAIN GUSTY WITH LOCAL GUSTY CONDITIONS CONTINUING THROUGH FRIDAY. WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME GENERALLY LIGHT AND VARIABLE FRIDAY NIGHT WHICH WILL ALLOW AMPLE RADIATIONAL COOLING TO TAKE PLACE UNDER CLEAR SKIES. THIS WILL ALLOW TEMPERATURES TO PLUNGE SATURDAY MORNING WITH MANY DESERT LOCATIONS REACHING SUBFREEZING CONDITIONS. .LONG TERM...SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. OVERALL WE ARE LOOKING AT AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES UNDER A GENERAL NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT. THE FLOW WILL BE RELATIVELY LIGHT SATURDAY AND SUNDAY WITH DRY CONDITIONS. THE GFS AND ECMWF ARE IN PRETTY GOOD AGREEMENT BRINGING A DEEPENING SHORTWAVE TROUGH DOWN THROUGH THE NORTHWEST FLOW INTO OUR AREA SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. BOTH MODELS INDICATE THIS TO BE A MOISTURE STARVED SYSTEM WITH ONLY A SLIGHT CHANCE OF LIGHT SHOWERS OVER LINCOLN AND NORTHERN MOHAVE COUNTIES. DRY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY AS THE TROUGH MOVES SOUTHEAST OF THE AREA. THE MAIN IMPACT FROM THE TROUGH WILL BE INCREASING NORTH WINDS MONDAY WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR WIDESPREAD WINDY CONDITIONS TUESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY ALONG WITH WELL BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES BOTH DAYS. && SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. HOWEVER...SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. && GORELOW/SALMEN/HARRISON FOR MORE FORECAST INFORMATION...SEE US ON OUR WEBPAGE: HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/LASVEGAS OR FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 winter weather, 1 high wind, 1 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
One to two inches of snow at Oak Springs Summit on Highway 93 (11 miles W of Caliente) led to several vehicles sliding off the road.
High winds were measured 44 miles ENE of Beatty. The peak gust occurred at 0245 PST.
Half a tree blew down across the intersection of Lamb and Washington in Las Vegas.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, December 2014
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: 551583, 551584, 551585.