Low pressure off the California coast brought significant precipitation (rain and high elevation snow), thunderstorms with accumulating small hail, and isolated strong outflow winds to western Nevada on the 5th.
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The episode as NWS REV wrote it up.
Low pressure off the California coast brought significant precipitation (rain and high elevation snow), thunderstorms with accumulating small hail, and isolated strong outflow winds to western Nevada on the 5th.
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 Reno, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 5, 1:11 AM PST, 3 hours 49 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Reno NV 211 AM PDT THU MAY 5 2016 .SYNOPSIS... An increase in showers and thunderstorms is expected today as low pressure approaches the California coast. Some of the storms could be strong with frequent lightning and copious amounts of small hail. Unsettled weather will continue into the weekend with locally heavy rain possible. Drier, warmer weather returns next week. && .SHORT TERM... Upper low moving toward the CA coast should lead to increased instability through the day and combine with a south to north oriented jet to produce widespread showers and scattered thunderstorms through the day. The presence of the upper jet may boost instability aloft well beyond that seen Wednesday when increased cloud cover cut low level heating and limited the amount of deep convection. The upper level diffluence is likely to aid in the continuation of thunderstorms into the evening hours and possibly overnight as the upper low moves slowly east toward southern CA. Initially fast moving cells this afternoon mean the primary threats will be small hail and gusty winds...but as the mid level steering flow decreases into the evening hours slower moving cells will mean the primary threat may transition to moderate to heavy rain. The slow movement of the low to the east will mean continued instability Friday...but increased cloud cover and a lack of a consolidated upper level jet support is likely to limit the amount of thunderstorms compared to today. Still...slow moving storms could create brief moderate to heavy rain and some localized minor flooding. The upper low moves east of the region Saturday...but a deformation axis is likely to form on the back side of the low with bands of precipitation developing across the forecast area. For now it is difficult to pin point where any of these bands may form. Again...cell movement appears to be fairly slow for Saturday meaning any bands that form could produce significant rainfall across parts of the forecast area. Extensive cloud cover and rain could also make Saturday the coolest day of the short term period with highs in the 50s and 60s. 20 .LONG TERM...Sunday through Wednesday... Upper trough will finally begins its exit on Sunday with decreasing shower and storm potential from north to south through evening. Some stronger slow moving storms will still be capable of small hail and heavy rainfall as the atmosphere will be unstable. The main change to the forecast was to show a gradual decrease in coverage across northern areas in the afternoon and central areas by evening. For Mon-Wed, both the GFS/ECMWF have trended a bit cooler as shortwave trough drops down east side of ridge, delaying the warmup until later in the week. We cooled temperatures down a few degrees Tue-Wed, but if some of the MOS guidance is correct, temperatures may need to be cooled further as a northeast gradient pushes cooler and drier air in from the northeast. Isolated showers will be possible along the Sierra crest. Otherwise, it should remain dry as the bulk of moisture and instability stay east. Hohmann && .AVIATION... Isolated thunderstorms across northeast CA and northwest NV will continue through daybreak as that area remains in favorable region of large scale forcing. Isolated showers/storms may develop farther south toward KRNO/KCXP/KNFL early this morning, but the best chances will be to the north. Otherwise, showers and storms will be on the increase today as large scale upper low moves eastward into CA/srn NV and dynamics/lift spread across all areas. A few strong storms will be capable of lots of small hail and moderate-heavy rainfall. Banding of showers will be possible through Sunday with longer more persistent periods of steady moderate rainfall and embedded thunderstorms possible. Terrain obscurement and MVFR conditions will be more prevalent in these bands. Hohmann && .REV Watches/Warnings/Advisories... NV...None. CA...None. && For more information from the National Weather Service visit... http://weather.gov/reno
The Reno radar (KRGX), 48 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 12:58 UTC.
2 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Dime-size hail covered the ground in and near the Somersett community in northwest Reno.
A line of thunderstorms approximately 15 to 30 miles west of Fallon produced outflow winds as high as 49 mph gusting to 60 mph at the Naval Air Station in Fallon. Visibility was reduced to between 1 and 2 miles as the wind kicked up large amounts of dust.
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, May 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: 635076, 635077, 635078.