A winter storm brought heavy snow to portions of northern and central Nevada. Some valleys received 6 to 10 inches of snow with up to 18 inches in the mountains.
Every event with a place to put it; 7 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 LKN wrote it up.
A winter storm brought heavy snow to portions of northern and central Nevada. Some valleys received 6 to 10 inches of snow with up to 18 inches in the mountains. In addition strong winds caused blowing and drifting of snow which resulted in the closure of highway 93 between Lages Junction to north of Wells as road crews could not keep up with the snow drifts.
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 Jan 22, 3:58 AM PST, 2 hours 2 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Elko NV 358 AM PST Sun Jan 22 2017 .SYNOPSIS...Snow will quickly overspread much of the area through this morning. Significant snow is likely along with areas of blowing and drifting snow, especially across central Nevada. After this storm, cold valley inversions will build into the area early next week. This will lead to very cold overnight lows in the valleys. && .SHORT TERM...Tonight through Tuesday. The main story for the short term will be the large and significant storm system overspreading the area. The models are in much better agreement tonight with potential heavy snow band placement. Sunday morning and early afternoon. The first area of snow is overspreading the CWA from SW to NE, due to the increase in large scale forcing, jet dynamics, and robust isentropic lift. In fact, this area of precip is more impressive than models were advertising. Austin is already receiving heavy snow at the airport and other locations are quickly saturating and beginning to snow. This should work its way north over the next few hours and into the I80 corridor. Winds are also becoming an increasing concern. Observations across the CWA already show gusts to near/over 30 mph. Austin Summit is likely receiving blizzard conditions as heavy snow and wind gusts to 45 mph are occurring. The strongest jet core and higher low level winds have yet to reach the CWA. The need for a blizzard warning along and south of highway 50 is increasing and this will need to be monitored closely throughout the morning. Even though a blizzard warning has not been issued, blizzard conditions are likely across the higher passes/summits. Even some valley locations may see localized blizzard-like conditions later this morning and afternoon in central Nevada. Sunday afternoon through Monday morning. Instability will increase as impressive amounts of moisture and dynamics move across the CWA. An impressive area of FGEN develops across the CWA and slowly slides south. With the anomalous amounts of moisture, instability, and -epv heavy bands of snow will likely form. The models are indication two areas of concern. The first is across SE Humboldt County to SW Elko County Sunday evening through Monday morning. Localized heavy snow will be likely and the models hint at this band stalling or moving very slowly somewhere between WMC and EKO. Impressive amounts of snow will be likely in this band. The second area will be as the band pushes S/SE into Southern Lander/Eureka, northern Nye, and White Pine Counties. Heavy snow will be possible very early monday morning. Keep in mind, due to the complex nature of this system and unstable airmass, heavy snow bands will be difficult to pinpoint. There will be a better idea where these may set up as high resolution models begin to handle the development and the bands can be seen on radar. Monday through Tuesday. The storm system will gradually clear the area through Monday morning. However, A very cold and closed h5 low may slide south along the UT/NV border. This would result in moist N/NW flow, which could enhance upslope snow in the Jarbidge and Ruby Mtn Range. Even some areas like Spring Creek, Lamoille, Lee, and Jiggs could see light to moderate snow showers late Monday night into Tuesday morning. Any accumulations would be a fluffy trace to 2 inches. The mountains could pick up around 3-6 inches. .LONG TERM...Tuesday night through next Sunday. A Short wave embedded within deep northwesterly flow and lingering moisture could bring a few snow showers to northeast NV Tuesday night and Wednesday. GFS and ECMWF continue to gravitate towards yet another weak system moving through the state from the north Thursday. However, impact will be minimal with multi-day snow accumulations generally less than an inch in valleys. Forecast focus continues to be temperatures for the later half of next week. CPC shows a high confidence of below normal temperatures across a large part of the Great Basin region. Model guidance continues to show colder temperatures as well Wednesday onward. Vast snow cover will aid in locking in these colder temperatures as well. Based on latest assessment, lowered temperatures once again for next week with highs in the 20s and lows in the single digits. Widespread near zero to sub-zero temperatures are expected by Friday morning. Fortunately, winds will be light next week as a ridge builds over the region so wind chills will not be a major concern. && .AVIATION...Conditions will deteriorate rapidly from west to east across the state today as a potent winter storm affects the region. Expect lowering CIGs, increasing snow and reduced visibilities through tonight. Periods of heavy snow will bring occasional LIFR to VLIFR conditions late this afternoon into the evening hours. Additional concerns: Low-level wind shear is a concern later today especially at KELY and KTPH. Strong surface winds will also affect the state today, particularly KELY where gusts could reach 40 knots. En route obscuration hazards and turbulence will exist as well throughout today. && .LKN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Storm Warning until 4 AM PST Monday for Humboldt County- Northern Elko County-Northern Lander County and Northern Eureka County-Ruby Mountains/East Humboldt Range-South Central Elko County-Southern Lander County and Southern Eureka County- Southwestern Elko County. Winter Weather Advisory until 10 AM PST Monday for Southeastern Elko County. Winter Storm Warning until 4 PM PST Monday for Northeastern Nye County-Northwestern Nye County-White Pine County. && 94/93/93
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ELKO NV
522 AM PST SUN JAN 22 2017
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0700 AM HEAVY SNOW 10 ESE MCGILL 39.32N 114.62W
01/21/2017 M12.0 INCH WHITE PINE NV MESONET
BERRY CREEK SNOTEL 9100 FT.
0700 AM HEAVY SNOW 16 ESE ELY 39.16N 114.61W
01/21/2017 U9.0 INCH WHITE PINE NV MESONET
CAVE MOUNTAIN SNOTEL 10583 FT.
0700 AM HEAVY SNOW 17 N PARADISE VALLEY 41.75N 117.53W
01/21/2017 M9.0 INCH HUMBOLDT NV MESONET
BUCKSKIN LOWER SNOTEL 6915 FT.
0700 AM HEAVY SNOW 6 WNW GILLMAN SPRINGS 39.29N 117.11W
01/21/2017 M9.0 INCH LANDER NV MESONET
BIG CREEK SUMMIT SNOTEL 8695 FT.
0700 AM HEAVY SNOW 9 NE MCGILL 39.47N 114.65W
01/21/2017 M8.0 INCH WHITE PINE NV MESONET
BIRD CREEK SNOTEL 7500 FT.
0700 AM HEAVY SNOW 1 SW ELY 39.24N 114.89W
01/21/2017 M8.0 INCH WHITE PINE NV MESONET
ELY SNOW SNOWTEL 6487 FT.
0700 AM HEAVY SNOW 17 N KINGS RIVER VALLEY 41.97N 118.19W
01/21/2017 M8.0 INCH HUMBOLDT NV MESONET
DISASTER PEAK SNOTEL 6500 FT.
0400 AM SNOW 2 WSW ELKO 40.83N 115.79W
01/21/2017 M7.5 INCH ELKO NV CO-OP OBSERVER
CO-OP OBSERVER STATION ELKO NWS OFFICE COOP
/TLKN2/.
0800 AM SNOW RUTH 39.28N 114.99W
01/21/2017 M7.0 INCH WHITE PINE NV CO-OP OBSERVER
CO-OP OBSERVER STATION RUTH COOP /RTHN2/.
&&
NWS ELKO NV
IRIS SYSTEMThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
7 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Wild Horse Reservoir reported 10 inches of snow and Montello 8 inches of snow.
SNOTEL sites reported between 8 and 19 inches of new snow.
Reports of around 7 inches of snow were received from the Ruby and Clover Valley area.
Nine to twelve inches of snow was reported in Eureka.
Six inches of snow was reported in West Wendover.
Six inches of snow was reported in Tonopah.
Blue Eagle Ranch reported 6 inches of snow and 7 inches was reported in Round Mountain.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, January 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: 669490, 669493, 669491, 669494, 669492, 669495, 669496.