A large winter storm brought heavy rain and snow to the Mojave Desert and southern Great Basin, causing major impacts to the Thanksgiving holiday traffic.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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.
A large winter storm brought heavy rain and snow to the Mojave Desert and southern Great Basin, causing major impacts to the Thanksgiving holiday traffic.
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 Nov 27, 4:02 AM PST, 5 hours 58 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 402 AM PST Wed Nov 27 2019 .SYNOPSIS...A slow moving, powerful winter storm will impact the region through Friday. Significant amounts of snow and rain will cause hazardous travel conditions heading into the Thanksgiving holiday. The weather will be quiet and cool over the weekend, with another round of snow possible in the Sierra Sunday and Monday. && .DISCUSSION...Very deep low pressure system which has set monthly pressure records at stations in far northern California and southern Oregon was centered over southern Oregon early this morning. As expected, one band of enhanced precip has been set up from the Sierra across Esmeralda County since last evening, with an inch or two of snow in Bishop thus far, and SNOTEL sites in the Sierra suggesting more than a foot of new snow at the higher elevations. As noted by previous shifts, one point of concern is that many parts of our region (excluding the Sierra) will see two rounds of precip - one today, followed by a well defined break tonight into Thanksgiving Day, and then a second, much heavier round Thursday afternoon through Friday morning. Another point of concern is that forecast snow levels have risen significantly since yesterday, as a stubborn warm nose at 850 mb may keep temperatures warm enough through Thursday for I-15 and I-40 to see rain instead of snow. Very hesitant to cancel any Winter Storm Warnings now and potentially give a false "all clear," so will recommend day shift see how the first round of precip verifies with regard to snow levels, which will help with the decision making for the second, heavier round. Yet another concern is a period of strong southerly winds Thursday afternoon and evening, especially over Mohave County. Not especially confident in this given the effects of precipitation drag during that period, but matched up with PSR by issuing a Wind Advisory. Most precip with this storm system should be done by Friday evening, but there is another on its heels. Models have been reasonably consistent keeping it offshore through the weekend into early next week, with moist southwesterly flow ahead of it sending chances for snow mainly into the Sierra, with lesser chances farther east. At some point, this storm will likely follow in the footsteps of its predecessors, moving onshore and bringing yet another round of rain and snow to the region. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...South-southwesterly winds 10-12 kts expected to persist through much of the morning before southerly wind gusts pick up around noon between 20 and 25 kts. Around noon is also when vicinity showers enter the forecast. Shower activity will begin over the Spring Mountains, but spill-over into the Valley is likely and will remain a possibility until around sunset when rain showers can be expected over the terminal. Wind gusts and steady rain start to diminish around midnight, though low confidence on the end time of the gusts or the rain at this time. Vicinity showers remain in the TAF until day break when winds will become light and variable. Cloud decks will continue to drop through the TAF period. CIGs will remain below 10 kft all morning before dropping BKN below 5 kft around sunset. Low CIGs will be an impact through the TAF period. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California... Gusty southerly winds will pick up through the morning for the Las Vegas Valley TAF sites that will last until sunset, at which time, precipitation is expected near the terminals. The Owens Valley has been experiencing LIFR conditions with visibility often reduced to under 1 SM due to blowing snow and CIGs below 1 kft. Conditions aren't expected to improve for KBIH until around midnight when snow showers exit the forecast. Elsewhere, KIFP and KEED can expect southerly wind gusts 25-30 kts until sunset with only a brief window of VCSH a few hours before and after midnight. Otherwise, CIGs near 5kft after sunset look to be the largest concern for the Colorado River Valley. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather according to standard operating procedures. This would include significant rain and snow amounts and winds. && DISCUSSION...Morgan AVIATION...Varian For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: https://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Ten inches of snow fell in Lincoln County north of Pioche.
Twelve inches of snow fell in Rainbow Canyon on Mount Charleston. Highway 160 was closed over Mountain Springs Summit due to an estimated four inches of snow.
Ten inches of snow fell 5 miles NW of Mount Charleston. This was in addition to the heavy snow of the previous day.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, November 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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 866828, 866094, 866095.