Another fast-moving Pacific storm system brought locally high winds to southern Nevada and southeast California.
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.
Another fast-moving Pacific storm system brought locally high winds to southern Nevada and southeast California.
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 Mar 11, 9:07 AM PST, 5 hours 29 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 907 AM PST FRI MAR 11 2016 .SYNOPSIS...A QUICK HITTING STORM WILL BRING GUSTY WINDS AND A CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION TO MUCH OF THE AREA TODAY AND TONIGHT. EXPECT ANOTHER WARM DAY TODAY BEFORE COOLER TEMPERATURES AND MORE SEASONAL CONDITIONS SETTLE IN FOR THE WEEKEND. ANOTHER SYSTEM WILL BRING A CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION TO THE SIERRA AND SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY. DRY AND WARM CONDITIONS THEN RETURN TO THE REGION BY THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. && .UPDATE... BASED ON THE LATEST HIRES DATA THIS MORNING, THE FORECAST FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING IS IN PRETTY GOOD SHAPE. THE ONLY ADJUSTMENT NEED AT THIS TIME WAS TO INCREASE CLOUD COVER ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA. && .PREVIOUS DISCUSSION... 302 AM PST FRI MAR 11 2016 .SHORT TERM...THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. A VIGOROUS EASTERN PACIFIC SHORTWAVE WILL APPROACH THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COAST TODAY AND MOVE ACROSS THE MOJAVE DESERT TONIGHT. THIS SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO GENERATE STRONG GUSTY WINDS ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA TODAY AND TONIGHT WITH WIND ADVISORIES IN EFFECT FOR MUCH OF THE REGION. THE LATEST VERSION OF THE ADVISORY INCLUDES ALL OF CLARK COUNTY INCLUDING LAS VEGAS UP THROUGH MESQUITE, THE COLORADO RIVER VALLEY GENERALLY NORTH OF LAUGHLIN AND NORTHWEST ARIZONA INCLUDING KINGMAN. THE STRONG GUSTS ARE LIKELY TO CREATE AREAS OF BLOWING DUST ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE DESERT AREAS AND NEAR DRY LAKE BEDS. MODELS ARE ALSO GENERATING QPF AS THE SYSTEM ROLLS THROUGH BEGINNING IN THE SIERRA AND OWENS VALLEY THIS AFTERNOON AND THEN SPREADING INTO PORTIONS OF THE WESTERN DESERTS AND SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN LATE THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. PRECIP AMOUNTS ARE FORECAST TO BE LIGHT OVERALL WITH THE HIGHEST TOTALS EXPECTED IN THE HIGHEST ELEVATIONS OF THE SIERRA WHERE UP TO A HALF FOOT OF SNOW IS POSSIBLE. FURTHER DOWN NEAR ASPENDELL, ONLY A COUPLE OF INCHES ARE EXPECTED SO NO WINTER WEATHER HEADLINES ARE NEEDED. SOUTHWEST FLOW AHEAD OF THE SYSTEM TODAY WILL ALLOW TEMPERATURES TO WARM TO AROUND 10 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL WITH HIGH CLOUDS CLEARING OUT IN THE AFTERNOON. THE SYSTEM IS EAST OF AREA SATURDAY WITH SHORTWAVE RIDGING OVER THE CWA BEHIND IT. WINDY CONDITIONS ARE LIKELY TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE EARLY MORNING HOURS SATURDAY ACROSS THE WESTERN MOJAVE DESERT WITH LIGHTER WINDS ELSEWHERE. CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BE DRY OVER THE WEEKEND WITH MORE SEASONAL TEMPERATURES. A WEAK SYSTEM CROSSING NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA COULD RESULT IN A FEW SHOWERS OVER THE SIERRA SUNDAY NIGHT. .LONG TERM...MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. IT LOOKS LIKE A DRY AND MILD WEATHER PATTERN WILL RETURN TO THE REGION FOR MUCH OF NEXT WEEK AS A STRONG RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE SLOWLY BUILDS IN BEHIND A TROUGH EXITING THE GREAT BASIN MONDAY. HOWEVER...THIS PATTERN WILL RESULT IN GUSTY NORTH WINDS ALONG THE COLORADO RIVER VALLEY EACH DAY FROM TUESDAY ONWARD...ESPECIALLY NEAR LAUGHLIN AND BULLHEAD CITY. MONDAY WILL STILL BE SOMEWHAT UNSETTLED AS THE BROAD TROUGH MOVES FROM THE GREAT BASIN ACROSS THE INTERMOUNTAIN REGION AND ROCKIES. THE MOST NOTICEABLE EFFECT WILL BE GUSTY WINDS EXTENDING ACROSS THE SOUTHERN SIERRA AND SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN AND ALSO MUCH OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY. WIND HEADLINES MAY BE NEEDED FOR THESE ZONES THROUGH THE DAY MONDAY. STRONG DOWNSLOPE CONDITIONS MAY BE POSSIBLE MONDAY MORNING FOR PARTS OF THE OWENS VALLEY. SOME LINGERING SHOWERS MAY BE OBSERVED OVER THE SOUTHERN SIERRA AND SOUTH CENTRAL NEVADA ZONES BUT ANY PRECIP AMOUNTS WILL BE LIGHT AND SNOW LEVELS WILL BE ABOVE 7500 FEET. DRY NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL DEVELOP OVER THE REGION TUESDAY IN ADVANCE OF AN AMPLIFYING RIDGE NEAR THE WEST COAST WHICH WILL GRADUALLY MOVE INLAND THE REST OF THE WEEK. THE ECMWF AND GFS SOLUTIONS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH THIS SCENARIO WHICH WILL LEAD TO MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES AND TEMPERATURES SEVERAL DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL WITH HIGHS IN THE MID 70S TO LOWER 80S ACROSS THE MOJAVE DESERT REGION. AS MENTIONED ABOVE...THIS PATTERN WILL ALSO PRODUCE A PROLONGED PERIOD OF NORTH-NORTHEAST WINDS ALONG THE NEVADA/ARIZONA BORDER WITH SPEEDS OF AT LEAST 15-25 MPH EACH DAY NEAR LAUGHLIN AND BULLHEAD CITY. && .AVIATION...FOR MCCARRAN...SOUTHERLY WINDS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE NIGHT THEN TRANSITIONING TO AN EASTERLY DIRECTION BETWEEN 17Z-20Z WITH SPEEDS UP TO 10KTS. WINDS WILL AGAIN TURN SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST BECOMING 15-25 KTS WITH GUSTS TO 35 KTS. THERE IS ALSO A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS BETWEEN 00Z-07Z. DRY CONDITIONS AND LIGHT WINDS RETURN FOR SATURDAY. FOR THE REST OF SOUTHERN NEVADA...NORTHWEST ARIZONA...AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA...WINDS WILL GRADUALLY INCREASE THIS MORNING BECOMING 20- 30 KTS AFTER 15Z ACROSS ESMERALDA...CENTRAL NYE...AND INYO COUNTIES AND THEN SPREADING TO THE REMAINING AREAS THIS AFTERNOON. GUSTY WINDS WILL LINGER THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING ACROSS THE WESTERN MOJAVE DESERT WITH LIGHT WINDS EXPECTED ELSEWHERE ON SATURDAY. MOUNTAIN SNOW AND VALLEY RAIN SHOWERS WILL SPREAD ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE REGION THROUGH TONIGHT. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...SPOTTER ACTIVATION NOT EXPECTED. SPOTTERS SHOULD REPORT ANY SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. && UPDATE...........PADDOCK SHORT/AVIATION...SALMEN LONG TERM........ADAIR 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 high wind, 1 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
This gust occurred 1 mile SSE of Goldfield.
A tree blew down near Horizon Ridge and Mission in Henderson. Gusts at the Henderson Airport were 40 mph at the time.
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, March 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: 619534, 619535.