A strong cold front moving across northern Nevada ignited severe thunderstorms as it moved across the region. Wind gusts up to 70 mph were observed and a tree was blown down in Orovada.
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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 strong cold front moving across northern Nevada ignited severe thunderstorms as it moved across the region. Wind gusts up to 70 mph were observed and a tree was blown down in Orovada.
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 Oct 30, 2:00 PM PST, 1 hour earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Elko NV 300 PM PDT Sun Oct 30 2016 .SYNOPSIS...Showers and thunderstorms over most of northern Nevada as well as windy conditions across central Nevada will all diminish into this evening. Dry and mild early on Monday with showers moving in from west to east later in the day. Showers linger over northern Nevada Monday night into Tuesday. Dry conditions return on Wednesday. && .SHORT TERM...Tonight through Tuesday. Widespread showers and isolated thunderstorms across most of northern and portions of central Nevada this afternoon will diminish into this evening. Some showers may be moderate or heavy with reduced visibility. While CAPE is relatively low...shear values are high to the west of and along the line from Gabbs up toward Carlin and Midas with moderate shear east of that line. As such there may be some moderate to potentially strong thunderstorms late this afternoon and early evening. Across central Nevada strong southerly winds will continue into the early evening and diminish into the late evening and overnight hours. A brief pause in the rain late this evening into Monday morning...however by Monday afternoon a second trough will bring another round of showers to mainly northern Nevada. It is still likely to be dry in the Elko area early Monday evening...however before midnight light rain is expected to begin. Showers continue overnight Monday and through Tuesday afternoon across northern Nevada. .LONG TERM...Tuesday night through Sunday. Benign weather through the first half of the weekend as a ridge of high pressure sits over the area. However the EC model shows some moisture being advected northward around a upper level low in western AZ into east central NV near the UT border on Friday. The GFS however keeps this upper level low and associated moisture well to the south across far southern NV. For now kept the forecast dry for Friday due to model uncertainty. Models do agree that a short wave will move across northern NV on Sunday, but differ on the strength, with the GFS bringing precip down into central NV while the EC keep precip confined to northern NV. && .AVIATION...Widespread rain showers with local mvfr conditions mainly affecting the keko and kely terminals through 03z. South winds gusting to 50 mph through 02z impacting the KTPH and KELY terminals, and up to 40 mph at the KEKO terminal. Isolated thunderstorms possibly impacting the KEKO terminal through 01z. && .FIRE WEATHER...Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms late this afternoon and early evening over northern and portions of central Nevada will taper off later this evening. Some showers will be moderate to heavy with wetting rains. The strong southerly winds across central Nevada will also diminish into this evening and overnight. Dry tonight into Monday however more rain is expected over mainly northern Nevada later on Monday on through Tuesday afternoon. && .LKN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... High Wind Warning until 9 PM PDT this evening for Northeastern Nye County-Ruby Mountains/East Humboldt Range-South Central Elko County-Southeastern Elko County-White Pine County. Wind Advisory until 9 PM PDT this evening for Northwestern Nye County-Southern Lander County and Southern Eureka County. && 96/91/91/96
The Elko radar (KLRX), 126 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:59 UTC.
7 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A weather spotter reported a tree was blown down and 3 to 5 inch diameter branches snapped off other trees.
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, October 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: 658931, 658932, 658933, 658934, 658936, 658937, 658938.