A brief landspout tornado formed north of Bishop, CA. There were multiple independent reports with video.
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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 VEF wrote it up.
A brief landspout tornado formed north of Bishop, CA. There were multiple independent reports with video.
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 3, 10:25 AM PST, 2 hours 37 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 1025 AM PST Sat Mar 3 2018 .SYNOPSIS...A slow moving storm system off the Oregon coast will bring more significant snow to the Sierra this morning, along with rain and snow chances and gusty winds to much of the Mojave Desert and southern Great Basin through this evening. Dry weather is expected from Sunday through at least Thursday, with temperatures warming from below normal Sunday to above normal Thursday. There is some chance of another storm affecting the region next weekend. && .UPDATE...The Winter Storm Warning at 10 AM for the Eastern Sierra Slopes. Automated stations east of the crest and a spotter in Aspendell indicated not much additional snow had fallen overnight and this morning. Radar and satellite loops indicated the precipitation band was moving more south to north and will struggle to get east of the crest. A swath of snow was becoming more enhanced from west central up through northeast Nevada and this will impact Esmeralda, central Nye and parts of Lincoln counties this afternoon and evening. However, accumulations of generally 1-3" are expected. Elsewhere, southwest winds will continue to increase through this afternoon as the trough centered along the NorCal Coast moves inland. Wind Advisories remain in effect until 9 PM this evening for most of the forecast area. The latest models indicate the band of moisture near the base of the trough will largely skip across southern Nevada into northwest Arizona this evening with some brief showers mainly for the mountains, but can't completely rule out a few light rain showers or sprinkles in the valleys. PoP values were trimmed back a little based on the latest NBM and MOS guidance. && .PREV DISCUSSION...241 AM PST .SHORT TERM...through Sunday night. Complex low pressure system was spinning off the Oregon coast early this morning. Rain in the San Joaquin Valley will reach the Sierra as snow this morning, so kept the Winter Storm Warning in effect. Winds are a bit more problematic. Despite tight surface pressure gradients across the Sierra, winds in the Owens Valley have been unimpressive overnight. With this in mind, cancelled the Wind Advisory for the Owens Valley a little early. Farther east, Advisory level winds were common over south central Nevada early this morning; however, Warning level winds have not been occurring, and newer guidance does not support them later in the day either. Thus, replaced the High Wind Warning for south central Nevada with a Wind Advisory, and left the Wind Advisory for southeast California, northwest Arizona, and far southern Nevada in place. The belt of max winds ahead of the storm will sag south and east tonight, bringing an end to strong southwest winds over our area. As the trough axis moves slowly east through our area tonight into Sunday morning, precip chances will end from west to east. Expect quiet weather Sunday, with high temperatures about ten degrees below normal. .LONG TERM...Monday through Friday. Benign weather is expected for the first half of the work week as high pressure builds in over the Western US. As a result temps will begin to warm back up and winds will remain out of the north to northeast with breezy conditions down the Colorado River Valley Monday and Tuesday. A more interesting pattern sets up for the latter half of the work week as a trough sets up in the Gulf of Alaska and strong upper level jet develops over the eastern Pacific facilitating moisture transport towards the central/southern California coast. Most of this moisture should be intercepted by the southern Sierra where another decent shot of snow will be possible across the higher elevations going into Friday. For the remainder of the area increasing cloud cover can be expected late in the week as well as potential for breezy, southwest winds on Friday. Any precip spill over across the remainder of the area would likely not be until the weekend as shortwave passes to the north. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...Breezy south southeast winds early this morning will veer to south southwest around mid morning and increase, with gusts over 30 knots expected during the afternoon and evening. Winds will decrease overnight, with much calmer conditions expected Sunday and Monday. There will be a very small chance of a shower at the terminal between about sunset and midnight tonight. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...Snow and rain chances will spread to areas north of I- 40 late this afternoon and evening before ending from west to east tonight into early Sunday morning. Expect low ceilings and terrain obscuration in areas of snow or rain. Strong southwest winds are expected over nearly all of the region through this evening, with associated severe mechanical turbulence. Much quieter weather is expected Sunday and Monday. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && UPDATE...Adair SHORT TERM/AVIATION...Morgan LONG TERM...Guillet For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: http://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
The San Joaquin Valley radar (KHNX), 164 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:00 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
There were several public reports of a landspout tornado. Additional information was gathered from the local newspaper in Bishop California.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for California, 2018Warnings in California, March 2018
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: 739885.