A weak disturbance passing by in strong westerly flow brought a brief period of 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 weak disturbance passing by in strong westerly flow brought a brief period of 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 28, 9:36 AM PST, 4 hours 51 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 936 AM PST Thu Feb 28 2019 UPDATED AVIATION SECTION .SYNOPSIS...Gusty conditions are expected today in the Sierra region with mild and breezy conditions expected elsewhere. Similar conditions can be expected Friday before a weather system moves in over the weekend bringing chances for rain to the region and some mountain snow. Dry conditions return for the start of the week but a stronger weather system may move in by Wednesday with renewed rain and mountain snow chances. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...Prevailing south-southwest wind today. Sustained speeds will range between 10-15kt, with gusts 20-25 kts. Gusts subside around 03Z this evening but sustained speeds look to stay between 10-15 kts. A period of lighter winds is expected to develop Friday morning. A few lower clouds will continue to cap the area mountains into this evening. Afterwards, look for increasing high clouds tonight. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...Prevailing south-southwest winds across the region from the western Mojave Desert to the Spring Mountains of Southern Nevada, and along the southern Sierra Nevada will continue today. Within the Colorado River, winds will favor typical upvalley direction today before shifting downvalley tonight. A few lower clouds will continue to cap the southern Sierra Nevada and Great Basin Ranges while high clouds increase aloft. && .SHORT TERM...through Saturday night. Main concerns for the short term period are strong winds/downslope potential in the Sierra today, and rain chances for Saturday. As of this morning, a closed low is spinning off the coast of Northern Oregon with a weakening moisture plume aimed at the central Sierra. Expect this moisture plume to continue to focus upslope precipitation into the central and southern Sierra through mid-morning before deteriorating by the afternoon. This should help dampen the downslope wind potential somewhat through the morning hours, but strong winds could resurface in the afternoon along and west of the US-395 between Bishop and Olancha. While the general synoptic pattern is conducive to strong downslope winds, the orientation of the upper level jet would suggest stronger winds in the Northern/Central Sierra than the southern Sierra. Also, forecast soundings imply a lack of a strong ridgetop stable layer which would help force some downward momentum. As such, opted to transition the High Wind Watch to a Wind Advisory today for the Sierra and Owens Valley region. Still will not be surprised to see a gust or two over 60 mph in wind exposed locations, but suspect most areas should see winds in the 40-50 mph range. Winds in the Western Mojave desert will also be gusty in the afternoon, but should stay shy of wind headline territory. Otherwise, conditions the next couple days should be mild with periods of breezy conditions and occasional high clouds. Afternoon breezes today could encourage temperatures in the Las Vegas valley to rise a degree or two above values observed Wednesday, especially given the warm start to the day we are likely to have (The current 230am temperature is 61F). Similarly Death Valley will warm once again into the 80s. On Saturday, a fast moving Pacific system will brush through the forecast area. This system promises to deliver another round of moderate snowfall to the Sierra, with rainfall of 0.25 to 0.75 across the Owens Valley. Further east, 0.10-0.25 inches of rain is likely in the Southern Great Basin and across the Mojave Desert (mainly north of I-40). Model agreement remains fairly uniform so I continued the trend of boosting PoPs and made minor upward boosts to the QPF, but otherwise few changes were made to the Saturday period. && .LONG TERM...Sunday through Thursday. Weak shortwave will exit the region Sunday with some residual moisture remaining over the northern and eastern section of the CWA. Precipitation should generally remain light, but a few hundredths are possible by Sunday evening. Snow levels are still expected to remain fairly high with levels generally above 7000 feet. This should keep most of the higher summits in Lincoln County in the rain. Weak ridging expected Monday and early Tuesday before the next system arrives by Tuesday afternoon into Thursday. This system will take a track that is fairly similar to the one that will go through over the weekend. Like the weekend system, this one is also pulling in plenty of Pacific moisture and is projected to impact a wider and more inland area. This will be another excellent precipitation maker for the Sierra with good amounts of high elevation snow and valley rain. Agreement is good between ensemble members and generally bring around a half an inch of rain to the Owens Valley and between a tenth to a quarter of an inch for the remainder of the area. Snow levels are still expected to remain fairly high with accumulating snow above 7500 feet. This system should exit fairly quickly Thursday afternoon, but looks to be followed by another quick moving shortwave on Friday that look to bring some additional scattered showers to the region. None of these system look to bring in any significantly cold air so temperatures look to remain above normal through the period. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Winds will be on the increase as a few systems clip the area over the next several days. Spotter activation is not anticipated at this time, however, spotters are encouraged to report any wind damage or impacts that occurs. && AVIATION...Pierce SHORT TERM...Outler LONG TERM...Gorelow 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. A trailer was overturned on Highway 395.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in California, February 2019
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: 805461.