Name: Damaging Wind in Nevada, July 21, 2015
Start: 2015-07-21T19:37
End: 2015-07-21T19:40
Location: Nevada

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS LKN wrote it up.

A thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 61 mph at the Morey Creek RAWS site.

What forecasters said that day

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 Elko, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 21, 2:44 PM PST, 4 hours 53 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 21, 2:44 PM PST, 4 hours 53 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ELKO NV
344 PM PDT TUE JUL 21 2015

.SYNOPSIS...THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED OVER PORTIONS OF THE
SILVER STATE TODAY. ANTICIPATING ANOTHER ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS
WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. DRIER WEATHER EXPECTED THIS WEEKEND.

&&

.SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY. THE LONGWAVE PATTERN
FEATURES A RIDGE OVER THE ROCKIES...WITH TROFFING OFF THE
CALIFORNIA COAST. THE PWS ARE RUNNING WELL ABOVE NORMAL...WITH
THE NAEFS PINGING INTO +2 STANDARD DEVIATIONS... BUT WITH RETURN
INTERVAL OF ONLY 2 YEARS. A DECENT VORT LOBE HAS BEEN PUSHING
THROUGH CENTRAL NV...SUSTAINING ENHANCED CONVECTION OVER NORTHERN
NYE COUNTY...AND WILL EXIT THE REGION THIS EVENING. AS TIME
ELAPSES...A SECOND WEAK SHORT WAVE WILL FOLLOW IN ITS
WAKE...FUELING ANOTHER ROUND OF CONVECTION TOMORROW. EVEN IN THE
18Z RUN OF THE GFS...EXPECTING A THIRD AND MORE POTENT SHORTWAVE
ON THURSDAY...WHICH WILL BRING WIDESPREAD DIFFLUENT FLOW TO THE
REGION...WHICH JUSTIFIED BUMPING UP THE POPS THIS PACKAGE.

.LONG TERM...THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. THE GENERAL TREND WILL
BE DRIER AND WARMER IN THE EXTENDED.

THURSDAY EVENING...CONVECTION MAY LINGER INTO THE EVENING AND
OVERNIGHT...BUT WILL NOTICEABLY DIMINISH AFTER SUNSET. A FEW STRONG
TO SEVERE STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE IN THE EVENING...AS
DYNAMICS/INSTABILITY REMAIN MODEST/FAIR.

THE REST OF THE LONG TERM WILL FEATURE RISING HEIGHTS AND WARMING
TEMPS. DID NOT REALLY TOUCH POPS...AS CONFIDENCE IS LOW IN THE LONG
TERM. SOME OF THE MODELS HINT AT A RETURN OF MONSOONAL MOISTURE
LATER NEXT WEEK...BUT GENERALLY THE AREA WILL REMAIN DRY.

&&

.AVIATION...BEST CHANCE FOR TSRA/VCTS WILL BE KTPH/KELY
TODAY...SLIGHT CHANCE FOR KEKO. KWMC SHOULD ONLY SEE VCSH. TOMORROW
WILL BE MORE ACTIVE ACROSS THE AREA. VCTS/TSRA WILL BE POSSIBLE AT
ALL TAF SITES...WITH KEKO SEEING THE BEST CHANCE FOR CONVECTION. ANY
STORM COULD CONTAIN SMALL HAIL...GUSTY WINDS...AND BRIEF HEAVY RAIN.
THIS MAY BRIEFLY REDUCE TERMINALS TO MVFR...BUT CONFIDENCE IS LOW.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...KLRX HAS BEEN UNDER GOING MAINTENANCE TODAY. BUT
BASED ON LIGHTNING STRIKES AND VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY...THE
MAIN CONVECTIVE FOCUS HAS BEEN 457...469 AND 470. WETTING RAINS
VERY POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS. ANOTHER ROUND OF CONVECTION
EXPECTED TOMORROW AND THURSDAY. THE HAINES VALUES IN THE FWZ LEAN
TOWARDS THE LOW END OF THE SPECTRUM ...ESPECIALLY FOR THE MONTH
OF JULY IN THE WESTERN GREAT BASIN...EXPECTING THIS TO CONTINUE
UNTIL FRIDAY.

&&

.LKN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.
&&

97/92/92/97

The radar

The Elko radar (KLRX), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:38 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Humboldt

When: July 21, 7:37 PM PST to 7:40 PM PST
Where: Humboldt County, 12.09 mi SE of Orovada
Measured: 53 kt (61 mph) measured gust
Reported by: RAWS
Coordinates: 41.450, -117.630

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Nevada in 2015 Every state in 2015 This day in weather history Warnings in Nevada, July 2015

Sources

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: 584065.