Multiple cold storm systems tapped into abundant moisture, bringing very heavy snow to the southern Sierra and lesser snow amounts to the Mountain Pass area.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 VEF wrote it up.
Multiple cold storm systems tapped into abundant moisture, bringing very heavy snow to the southern Sierra and lesser snow amounts to the Mountain Pass area.
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 3, 2:41 PM PST, 2 hours 49 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 241 PM PST Sun Feb 3 2019 .SYNOPSIS...Our active weather pattern will continue into the work week as multiple rounds of mountain snow and rain showers remain in the forecast through as late as late Wednesday night. Snow levels will be dropping through midweek, and significant snow accumulations are possible again in the higher terrain of Southern Nevada and the Sierra. Temperatures will start out near normal, and fall several degrees below normal Tuesday through next weekend. && .SHORT TERM...Tonight through Wednesday Night. Other than off and on snow showers over the Sierra peaks today, by and large, dry conditions have prevailed today across the region. HRRR/RAP as well as HREF solutions were struggling to produce any precip today due to the much drier air in place after the exit of the remnant AR that pushed through last night. Satellite trends have been something to see today however with both gravity and mountain wave clouds across much of the region. Integrated Water Vapor Transport (IVT) analysis shows another jet coming onshore tonight and beginning to encroach the Sierra by tomorrow morning bringing our anticipated round two of mountain snow. Compared to the previous round, this one won't be packing as much of a punch moisture-wise but is still an impressive and prolonged system dynamically. The other difference is this system is quite a bit colder and thus as noted by the previous AFD, higher snow ratios and lower snow levels can be expected with this round. As a result, the winter storm watches issued on the mid shift for Lincoln County and the Spring/Sheep Range Mountains was upgraded to a Winter Storm Warning beginning tomorrow after noon. The WSW for the eastern Sierra slopes was also continued. In addition to snow, gusty winds over 50 mph will again be possible in these higher elevations. Some additional considerations noted on this shift was the prospect of snow below 5000 ft Monday night through Tuesday as the main low center moves over the region. As models trend right now, snow levels will deep below 5000 feet late Monday night from the northwest to the southeast with scattered precip likely continuing through much of the day Tuesday. The big question is amounts as previously mentioned, moisture availability will be lacking and this will be highly driven by dynamics. As it stands right now, minor accumulations could begin to spread into Esmeralda, Nye, and the Owens Valley overnight Tuesday, and may even spread into western portions of the valley by late Tuesday night. Confidence remains low on this possibility due to the aforementioned moisture lack and models have trended too high in QPF generation over the weekend as it is, but snow levels certainly look to be favorable for this possibility if the atmosphere can ring out enough moisture overnight Tuesday as the low begins shifting east. Starting Wednesday, precip values will be shifting east and eventually precip free for this system finally by late Wednesday night. && .LONG TERM...Thursday through Sunday Continued active pattern expected through the end of the week and into the upcoming weekend. With limited access to any moisture source, these late week Pacific systems will be limited in terms of QPF. The main change this week will be plunging temperatures in the wake of this week's first system. Temperatures Thursday morning will run 10-15 degrees below normal. This puts Las Vegas lows near freezing and keeps highs in the upper 40s to lower 50s on Thursday and Friday. To wrap up the week, another upper low will skirt the Canadian coast and eject a shortwave across the southern Great Basin on Saturday. This should tighten gradients enough to result in gusty afternoon winds over the weekend, and, given limited moisture, very little precip is expected through the weekend. Cool temperatures are likely to continue through the weekend with a gradual warming trend. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...South winds will decrease after sunset and begin favoring more of a southwest direction, with clouds thinning out at well. Southerly flow will continue tomorrow, with clouds and showers for the adjacent mountains for much of the day, with showers and lower CIGs spreading into the valley Monday afternoon. CIGs are likely to drop below 5 Kft, but should be only for an hour or two, as activity will be showery in nature and moving fairly quickly. Ceilings should improve to above 5 Kft again Monday night. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...South to southwest flow continuing for the region through tomorrow. Another system will bring another decent shot of showers to the region from west in the morning to east in the evening. The KBIH will likely see snow in the morning, with the rest of the TAF sites seeing rain. Ceilings will likely come down below 5 Kft with the main band of rain showers tomorrow, but the snow at KBIH will drive CIGs and VIS much lower.&& SYNOPSIS/SHORT TERM...TB3 LONG TERM...Boothe AVIATION...Steele For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: http://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy snow, 1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
A storm total of 60 inches of snow fell at Aspendell.
Snow on Mountain Pass caused numerous vehicles to slide, resulting in I-15 being closed in both directions.
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: 805400, 805401.