A passing trough brought high downslope winds to the Owens Valley.
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 passing trough brought high downslope winds to the Owens Valley.
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 Feb 9, 9:30 AM PST, 5 hours 9 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 930 AM PST Thu Feb 9 2017 .SYNOPSIS...High pressure will bring mainly dry conditions and mild temperatures to much of the area through today. The next storm system will bring precipitation to the Sierra by tonight, spreading across the southern Great Basin and Mojave Desert Friday and Friday night. The weekend looks cooler again with temperatures dropping back to near normal. Breezy north winds can also be expected over the weekend. && .UPDATE...Visible satellite shows mid and high clouds passing across the area this morning with thicker...lower cloud cover over the Sierra and White Mountains of Inyo County. Light shower activity will stay mainly north of our area today before moving into the southern Sierra tonight. Winds along the Sierra are beginning to respond to an increasing westerly flow aloft with Mammoth Airport...north of Bishop...currently reporting gusts to near 50 mph. Strong winds should be contained primarily to the upper Sierra slopes through mid afternoon before progressing to the lower slopes late afternoon into the evening. A High Wind Warning will go into effect at 10 AM for the eastern Sierra slopes and the Owens Valley and continue through much of the night. The forecast looks in good shape and no updates are needed at this time. -Salmen- && .PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...400 AM PST... .SHORT TERM...through Saturday Night. High pressure over the region will begin to shift east today with an increasing southwest flow. Dry conditions are expected areawide and temperatures are expected to be the warmest of the week with good mixing. There could even be a couple of locations that flirt with record highs, but most locations should fall just short. Strong jet over northern California will sag south helping to bring strong downslope winds to the eastern Sierra slopes and Owens Valley from late this morning through the overnight hours. Warning level winds look probably over the eastern Sierra slopes, but confidence is still low on how far these winds will work into the Owens Valley. Will go ahead and upgrade the watch for the Owens Valley to a warning with the main impacts generally west of Highway 395. However, the best opportunity of these strong winds reaching the highway will generally be from Independence to Olancha. We could also see some gusty winds develop over the Spring Mountains this afternoon and overnight with some downslope potential. Right now it looks fairly low that any real impacts will occur and although we may see a few gusts over 40 near Red Rock Canyon, do not think that these winds will be widespread enough for advisories at this time. Precipitation will start to spread into the Sierra this evening and especially overnight with rain and snow likely overnight. Snow levels are forecast to begin around 8500 feet and then drop to around 7000 feet during the day Friday. Several inches of new snow is likely near the crest with generally just a few inches between 7- 8000 feet. As the trough sags south precipitation is expected to spread east Friday with fairly widespread light precipitation during the afternoon and evening hours with mainly a few hundredths in the valley locations and up to a quarter inch in the mountains. Snow levels across southern Nevada and northwest Arizona are expected to remain around 8000 feet or above and snow amounts do not look significant enough to warrant any advisories. Upper low will dig down the California coast Saturday and is expected to be near San Diego by Saturday night. Colder air will work into the region bringing snow levels down to around 6000 feet during the day. Things will be a little more convective and its possible that we could see a thunderstorm or two over northwest Arizona and eastern Lincoln County. However confidence in that occuring is fairly low. Temperatures will be about 15 degrees above normal today then cool about 5 degrees Friday with additional cooling expected over the weekend. Gusty north winds will also occur Saturday behind a cold front. .LONG TERM...Sunday through Thursday. Stiff north winds will be the most noticeable weather effect Sunday as the center of the closed upper low is forecast to be around Yuma Sunday morning and then slowly moves east along the Arizona/Mexico border during the day. Gusts over 40 mph appear likely along the Colorado River Valley and may be possible in nearby zones of southern Nevada and southeast California. The latest GFS/ECMWF models indicate there may be some moisture wrapping around the low over northwest Arizona and southern Nevada but confidence is not high enough to mention any showers for now. North breezes will persist across most of the forecast area Monday as the low slowly moves toward New Mexico and a ridge noses into the Great Basin. However, sustained speeds should be around 10-15 mph less than Sunday. Dry mild weather and light winds can be expected Tuesday and Wednesday as a ridge builds over the Great Basin ahead of a broad Pacific trough. This setup looks like it may lead to another round of wet unsettled weather for our region and the western states Thursday and beyond with indications of substantial Pacific moisture moving inland once again. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...Winds are expected to remain 7 kts or less through the day, but could favor a northeast direction between 18-23z this afternoon. We should see few-sct clouds develop between 8-12 kft this afternoon with ovc250. For the rest of southern Nevada...northwest Arizona...and southeast California...Quiet weather forecast for most terminals with light winds favoring typical diurnal trends for most. No operationally significant ceilings are forecast. Mountain wave activity today in the Sierra Nevada will create mechanical turbulence and the possibility of strong downslope winds and associated low level wind shear around BIH. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather according to standard operating procedures. && Short Term/Aviation...Gorelow Long Term.............Adair For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: http://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The peak gust occurred 4 miles NW of Independence. At almost the same time, a big rig was blown over on Highway 395 near Pearsonville.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in California, February 2017
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: 681158.