Strong winds began early on the 9th as an upper-level trough of low pressure and cold front moved towards northeastern California and western Nevada. S.
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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 REV wrote it up.
Strong winds began early on the 9th as an upper-level trough of low pressure and cold front moved towards northeastern California and western Nevada. Wind gusts peaked as high as 70 mph in wind prone locations along the U.S. Highway 395 corridor, but most locations saw wind gusts in the 35-50 mph range.
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 Jun 9, 1:08 PM PST, 43 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Reno NV
208 PM PDT Sat Jun 9 2018
.SYNOPSIS...
Gusty winds continue into Saturday evening creating dangerous
boating conditions, critical/near critical fire conditions,
travel hazards for high profile vehicles, and areas of blowing
dust. The low that produced gusty winds Saturday moves east
Sunday. Cooler temperatures are expected Sunday, but will rebound
to above normal by Tuesday. Unsettled weather is possible again
next weekend.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
The gusty winds materialized as anticipated...stronger in some
areas. So far we have seen gusts mainly in the upper 30s to mid
40s...but a few wind prone areas have seen gusts as high as 60
mph. The ridge winds over the Sierra have gusted above 80 mph with
Slide Mountain reaching 100 mph. Isolated showers continue north
of a line from Susanville to Gerlach as well.
The upper level trough of low pressure responsible for all of
this excitement will continue slowly moving east tonight and early
Sunday...pushing its surface cold front ahead of the low. We
expect gusty winds to continue well into the evening before
diminishing late tonight. Wind and Lake Wind Advisories remain in
effect for much of the forecast area while Red Flag Warnings
continue for parts of western Nevada. The Red Flag Warnings are
covered more thoroughly in the Fire Weather section below.
As the upper trough moves east colder air will filter into the
region. Many Sierra valley are likely to dip below freezing
tonight while the lower valleys in western Nevada and northeast
California drop into the mid 30s to lower 40s. The coldest valleys
will be those well away from the influence of urban areas.
It is not out of the question that some portions of the lower
valleys...below 5000 feet...may see low temperatures down to
freezing for a brief period of time Sunday morning. The areas most
at risk include the lower elevations east of Susanville in Lassen
County...the area around Portola and the Sierra Valley...and the
Surprise Valley in eastern Modoc County. Two things will control
how cold the lows get and for how long: winds will need to
decouple and drop below 10 mph quickly this evening and clouds
will need to clear out. If these two things line up we could see
below freezing temperatures. Given that winds are not likely to
drop until after midnight...there may not be enough time to get
lows below freezing. Still...anyone with cold sensitive plants
outside in the lower valleys should be alert to the possibility of
at least a light frost...if not a brief freeze. Since the time
factor is uncertain...we will not issue a Freeze Warning for
northeast California.
Beyond Sunday morning zonal flow starts to develop with temperatures
beginning to rebound to near normal by Monday. The model solutions
still want to develop a ridge well to the southeast of the region
in response to another trough developing in the eastern Pacific.
This trough makes its way into the Pacific NW by early Wednesday.
Light flow over our area may lead to weak convection for the
Sierra in Mono County Tuesday and Wednesday... but we will leave
out of the forecast for now.
By Thursday the model solutions diverge with their handling of
the next upper trough. The GFS begins to dig it south while the
ECMWF keeps it well to the north. By Friday the GFS develops a
secondary low over northern California with cooler temperatures
and a wetter scenario for our area. The ECMWF is starting to hint
at that possibility...but stays farther north. For now we have
left the extended forecast virtually untouched and are leaning
more toward the ECMWF solution.
&&
.AVIATION...
Gusty surface winds will continue into this evening before
decreasing after midnight. Ridge winds are likely to remain gusty
into early Sunday morning so mechanical turbulence aloft is a
possibility until midday Sunday. Low level wind shear should start
to decrease early this evening as surface winds and winds aloft
begin to come into better alignment in terms of direction.
Lingering showers north of a line from Susanville to Gerlach may
produce brief periods of MVFR cigs this evening...but VFR
conditions will continue for the remainder of the region.
Winds decrease further Sunday into Monday with continued VFR
conditions. The next significant poor aviation weather could be
late next week into the weekend as some forecast models show the
possibility of another area of low pressure dropping through
northern California and western Nevada.
&&
.FIRE WEATHER...
While humidities for the western Nevada Sierra Front were hanging
up earlier, they have recently fallen into the 16-23% range as a
bit drier air has moved into the region. Winds have been on track
with 35-45 mph (locally to 50 mph) gusts for many areas. With the
recent drying and the stout winds, a fire in grass could certainly
make a run into this evening. Farther east in the basin and range,
humidities are in the 10-16% range with winds sustained 20-35 mph,
gusting up to 45 mph.
Winds drop off considerably late evening and overnight as high
pressure builds into western NV and northeast CA. Recoveries for
most slopes and valleys across western and west-central NV are
expected to be moderate to locally good, with good recoveries
across northeast CA. Some simulations show poorer recoveries for
Mono County. While this is only moderate confidence, note that
humidities early Sunday morning could actually be 10-20% lower
than forecast for Mono County.
After this evening, no fire weather concerns are expected through
early next week as winds remain generally light. Afternoon and
evening winds will be on the uptick mid to late next week as low
pressure moves through the Pacific Northwest. -Snyder
&&
.REV Watches/Warnings/Advisories...
NV...Lake Wind Advisory until 11 PM PDT this evening NVZ002.
Red Flag Warning until 11 PM PDT this evening NVZ450-453-459.
Wind Advisory until 11 PM PDT this evening NVZ003.
Wind Advisory until 11 PM PDT this evening NVZ001-004.
CA...Lake Wind Advisory until 11 PM PDT this evening CAZ071-072.
Wind Advisory until 11 PM PDT this evening CAZ073.
&&
For more information from the National Weather Service visit...
http://weather.gov/renoThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Mesonet station CLDNV, 5 miles west of Stead (elevation 5043 feet) reported a 70 mph wind gust.
Mesonet station SRSNV, 1 mile north-northwest of Lakeview (elevation 5051 feet) reported a 69 mph wind gust.
Mesonet station XWSH, 2 miles southwest of New Washoe City reported a wind gust of 58 mph.
Mesonet station WASNV, 3 miles west-southwest of New Washoe City (elevation 5030 feet) reported a 76 mph wind gust.
Peavine Peak weather station (elevation 8260 feet) measured a wind gust of 88 mph.
Slide Mountain weather station (elevation 9650 feet) measured a wind gust of 101 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, June 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: 764442, 764441, 764406, 764443, 764446, 764448.