A winter storm brought 6 to 10 inches of snow to the valleys and 10 to 20 inches in the mountains across portions of northern and central Nevada.
Every event with a place to put it; 5 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 LKN wrote it up.
A winter storm brought 6 to 10 inches of snow to the valleys and 10 to 20 inches in the mountains across portions of northern and central 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 Elko, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 23, 2:39 PM PST, 6 hours 21 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Elko NV 239 PM PST Fri Dec 23 2016 .SYNOPSIS...A winter storm will push across north and central Nevada through the weekend with accumulations expected. Temperatures will be below normal with highs in the 20s and 30s with lows in thew single digits to teens through much of the period. && .NEAR TERM...Tonight through Saturday night. Skies across northern and central Nevada have been mostly cloudy through the day. There were some peaks of sun but it did not last long. Highs are generally in the upper 20s to upper 30s through the area. Models are all tracking this evening on bringing an area of low pressure across northern and central Nevada. It looks like the highest snowfall rates will occur during the overnight hours, with models showing a band setting up across southern Lander/Eureka, White Pine and northeast Nye counties during the overnight. All winter weather headlines that are out now will continue through the near term period. There will be some breezy conditions also in this same area and could lead to some blowing/drifting snow. Lows will be in the upper teens to mid 20s. For Christmas Eve and night, the area of low pressure will slowly eject eastward. This will keep the threat for scattered snow showers over the Silver State. Some minor accumulations of an inch or less will be possible. It will still be on the cool side with highs in the mid 20s to low 30s. .SHORT TERM...Christmas Day through Monday...Christmas Day will see continued improvements in the wake of the storm system exiting the region. A few wrap-around snow showers in eastern NV will end during the day. Somewhat breezy northwest winds will still exist on Christmas but will quickly decrease at sundown as the surface gradient weakens as high pressure builds in. Monday will be mostly sunny with light winds. Temperatures will be quite cold during this period...running some 10-20 degrees below average for this time of year. Highs will only top out in the teens to lower 20s and nighttime lows will dip down below zero in many locations with the fresh snow cover, clear skies and light winds. .LONG TERM...Monday night through next Friday night. After a quiet and fairly cold Monday, another frontal system will approach northern Nevada Monday night into Tuesday. All models depict this weak cold front sagging south to just south of the I-80 corridor by Tuesday afternoon. FGEN values are not impressive in either model, along with moisture, so not expecting much in snow accumulation for the northern NV valleys. The mtns of northern Elko do stand a change of decent accumulation but too early to say. EC is still the strongest with PVA and therefore precip amounts along the NV/ID border, but values of both parameters decrease from the 00Z yesterday. After a few showers along the ID border on Wednesday, 500mb ridge/sfc high pressure builds in with 500mb heights rising into 570s. This result in warming high temps across snow free valleys and mtn tops, but likely not result in an increase in the snow covered valleys due to the inversion. Therefore, kept high temps Thursday and Friday near freezing in northeast NV. 40s are likely in many locations across central by Friday once the snow in the valleys melts. By Friday night, significant models difference make the forecast more challenging. The main issue is how the models handle the cut-off 500mb low over southern CA. Due to the run-to-run inconsistency of the EC and the support of the GFS ensemble mean to the deterministic GFS, went with the dry GFS solution for Friday. The other challenge in the long term is overnight lows, which is pretty common during the winter. They likely fall -10 to -20F in the coldest locations Tuesday morning. Wednesday morning lows will display quite a contrast from north to south, as cloud cover keeps them fairly warm in the north, but not so much in central NV, especially in White Pine County. With these cold overnight lows, and some daytime melting, patchy freezing could occur any of the mornings, but confidence is too low to place in the grids for now. && .AVIATION...Winter storm system continues to move into the region this afternoon bringing periods of MVFR and likely as low as LIFR conditions as moderate to heavy snow at times is expected at all terminals. The heaviest snow is expected to occur at KTPH and KWMC between 3-10Z, at KEKO between 6-15Z and at KELY between 6Z-18Z. Snow showers continue at all terminals on Saturday but will decrease in intensity and coverage from west to east on Saturday afternoon and evening as the system works off to the east. && .LKN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Weather Advisory until 10 PM PST Saturday for Northern Elko County. Winter Weather Advisory until 4 AM PST Saturday for Humboldt County. Winter Weather Advisory until 4 AM PST Sunday for Southeastern Elko County. Winter Storm Warning until 4 AM PST Sunday for White Pine County. Winter Storm Warning until 4 PM PST Saturday for Ruby Mountains/East Humboldt Range. Winter Weather Advisory until 4 PM PST Saturday for Northern Lander County and Northern Eureka County-Southern Lander County and Southern Eureka County-Southwestern Elko County. Winter Weather Advisory until 10 PM PST Saturday for Northeastern Nye County-South Central Elko County. Winter Weather Advisory until 4 PM PST Saturday for Northwestern Nye County. && 86/84/85/85
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Wild Horse Reservoir reported 8 inches of new snow. Many SNOTEL sites reported between 8 and 15 inches of new snow.
Up to 10 inches of snow was reported in valley locations while many SNOTEL sites picked up between 10 and 20 inches of snow.
Many SNOTEL sites reported 10 to 18 inches of new snow.
Reports from Spring Creek indicated between 6 and 11 inches of snow fell in many areas. Nearly 6 inches of snow was reported at the NWS in Elko.
Some valley locations reported 6 to 8 inches of new snow and many SNOTEL sites received 10 to 18 inches of new snow.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, December 2016
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: 665813, 665817, 665814, 665815, 665816.