A strong Pacific storm system brought high winds to the Owens Valley and Mojave Desert, high winds and severe thunderstorms to the Mojave Desert, and heavy snow to the southern Great Basin. The episode began in January.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 strong Pacific storm system brought high winds to the Owens Valley and Mojave Desert, high winds and severe thunderstorms to the Mojave Desert, and heavy snow to the southern Great Basin. The episode began in January.
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 Jan 31, 10:26 PM PST, 1 hour 34 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 1026 PM PST SUN JAN 31 2016 .SYNOPSIS...A POTENT PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL BRING STRONG WINDS AND WIDESPREAD RAIN AND SNOW TO THE AREA TONIGHT AND MONDAY. DRY WEATHER AND CALMER WINDS RETURN BEGINNING TUESDAY BUT TEMPERATURES WILL BE SIGNIFICANTLY COOLER. TEMPERATURES WILL WARM THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE WORK WEEK RETURNING CLOSER TO NORMAL OVER THE WEEKEND. && .UPDATE...HAVE CANCELLED THE WIND ADVISORY FOR THE NORTHWEST DESERTS. WINDS HAVE DECREASED ACROSS SOUTHERN MOHAVE COUNTY EXCEPT FOR A FEW LOCAL SITES. -SALMEN- && .PREV UPDATE...853 PM PST... OTHER THAN THE WINTER STORM WATCH EXPIRING AT 8 PM FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA, I PLAN ON LEAVING THE FORECAST AS IS FOR THE OVERNIGHT PERIOD. MODELS CURRENTLY HAVE THE LOW CENTER OVER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SHIFTING ACROSS THE DESERTS TO NORTHWEST ARIZONA BY DAYBREAK. SATELLITE IMAGERY CONFIRMS THIS WITH CLOUDS SHOWING A DEFINITE COUNTER-CLOCKWISE SPIN AHEAD OF THE LOW. THE BEST CHANCE OF SHOWERS OVERNIGHT WILL BE OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF THE AREA ALTHOUGH RADAR IS SHOWING SHOWERS RE-DEVELOPING OVER THE WEST. SHOWER ACTIVITY HAS ENDED FOR THE TIME BEING IN THE LAS VEGAS AREA BUT THE HRRR BRINGS ANOTHER ROUND LATER TONIGHT IN THE NORTHERLY FLOW BEHIND THE SYSTEM. MODELS FORECAST RAPIDLY DROPPING SNOW LEVELS OVERNIGHT AS THE SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH WITH SNOW LEVELS OF 3-4000 FEET COMMON MONDAY MORNING. && .AVIATION...FOR MCCARRAN...A SECOND ROUND OF SHOWERS LOOKS LIKELY TO IMPACT THE LAS VEGAS VALLEY AROUND 09Z THROUGH DAYBREAK...YIELDING PERIODICALLY REDUCED VISIBILITY IN THE STRONGEST ACTIVITY AND MOUNTAIN OBSCURATIONS DUE TO LOWERED CIGS. WIND-WISE...EXPECT SOUTHWEST WINDS TO CONTINUE AT THE TERMINAL THROUGH ROUGHLY 08-10Z BEFORE WINDS SHIFT TO THE NORTHWEST. WINDS WILL LIKELY INCREASE IN THE BREAK IN PRECIPITATION THIS EVENING PRIOR TO THE WIND SHIFT TO THE NORTHWEST. NORTHWESTERLY WINDS BETWEEN 15-20KTS AND GUSTS 25- 30KTS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MONDAY. MECHANICAL TURBULENCE IS LIKELY FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON. FOR THE REST OF SOUTHERN NEVADA...NORTHWEST ARIZONA...AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS AND GENERALLY LASTING THROUGH MONDAY MORNING BEFORE ENDING MONDAY AFTERNOON. GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE DESERTS OVERNIGHT WITH GUSTY NORTH WINDS ACROSS THE SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN. NORTHWEST WINDS 15-25KTS AND GUSTS 30-35KTS ARE EXPECTED AREAWIDE ON MONDAY. MECHANICAL TURBULENCE WILL LIKELY BE AN ISSUE THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON. && PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...355 PM PST... .DISCUSSION...ADVERTISED COLD UPPER LOW PRODUCING A WIDE RANGE OF WEATHER ACROSS THE SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN AND MOJAVE DESERT. A LEAD SHORTWAVE MOVING ACROSS THE WESTERN MOJAVE DESERT CURRENTLY PRODUCING A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS BETWEEN BARSTOW AND RIDGECREST. VELOCITY ESTIMATES FROM THE EDWARDS AFB THAT PROMPTED THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING WERE BETWEEN 60 AND 70 KTS. MADE NO CHANGE TO OUR WINTER WEATHER PRODUCTS. SNOW WILL START TAPERING AFTER THIS EVENING OR JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT IN PARTS OF INYO...ESMERALDA AND CENTRAL NYE COUNTIES. LATER SHIFTS SHOULD BE ABLE TO CLEAR ZONES AS NEEDED. HEAVIEST SNOW FOR THE SPRING MTNS...SHEEP RANGE AND LINCOLN COUNTY IS FROM NOW THROUGH LATE THIS EVENING. LINCOLN COUNTY SHOULD BE MORE IMPACTED BY THE AREA OF WRAP AROUND PRECIPITATION BUT AMOUNTS SHOULD NOT MATCH WHAT OCCURS THIS EVENING. NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN MOHAVE COUNTY WILL BE LAST TO SEE THE COLD AIR ADVECTION SO NOT AS CONFIDENT THAT THE LOWER PLATEAU COMMUNITIES OF COLORADO CITY OR PIPE SPRINGS NATL MONUMENT WILL EXPERIENCE THE HEAVY SNOW BUT THE VIRGIN MTNS SHOULD MAKE OUT NICELY. ONLY CHANGE TO THE WIND PRODUCTS WAS TO INCLUDE THE LAS VEGAS IN THE WIND ADVISORY FOR LATER THIS EVENING THROUGH MONDAY. OTHER ITEM OF INTEREST WILL BE THE MUCH COLDER HIGH TEMPERATURES WITH FREEZING TEMPERATURES RETURNING TO MANY LOWER DESERT LOCALES TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY MORNINGS. BEYOND MID WEEK THE REGION WILL BE DRY AS TEMPERATURES CONTINUE TO WARM RETURNING CLOSER TO SEASONAL NORMALS FOR SUPER BOWL WEEKEND. && UPDATE/AVIATION...SALMEN PREV DISCUSSION...PIERCE FOR MORE FORECAST INFORMATION...SEE US ON OUR WEBPAGE: HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/LASVEGAS OR FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
624 PM PST SUN JAN 31 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0605 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 2 NNW MOHAVE VALLEY 34.95N 114.60W
01/31/2016 M60 MPH MOHAVE AZ TRAINED SPOTTER
REPORTED TIME IN PST.
&&
CMSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
632 PM PST SUN JAN 31 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0609 PM NON-TSTM WND GST TWENTYNINE PALMS (KNXP) 34.29N 116.14W
01/31/2016 M59 MPH SAN BERNARDINO CA ASOS
&&
MORGANPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
829 PM PST SUN JAN 31 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1000 AM HEAVY SNOW DYER 37.62N 118.03W
01/31/2016 M10.0 INCH ESMERALDA NV TRAINED SPOTTER
SNOW BEGAN ACCUMULATING IN DYER AROUND 6 AM. AS OF 5 PM
10 INCHES HAD FALLEN AND IT WAS STILL SNOWING.
&&
MORGANThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Twelve inches of snow fell in Goldfield. The event began in (and reached warning criteria during) January.
Heavy snow fell in Lincoln County, with 14 inches estimated in Pioche, 10 inches estimated in Caliente, and nine inches measured in Rachel. The event began in January.
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, February 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: 611787, 611788.