Low pressure system from the Pacific northwest moved through northern and central Nevada, bringing strong winds to several high elevation sites.
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 LKN wrote it up.
Low pressure system from the Pacific northwest moved through northern and central Nevada, bringing strong winds to several high elevation sites.
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 Elko, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 16, 3:13 AM PST, 10 hours 58 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Elko NV 313 AM PST Thu Jan 16 2020 .SYNOPSIS...It will be breezy in northern Nevada and very windy in central Nevada today ahead of another Winter system. Snow showers will moving into Humboldt County this afternoon and will then spread from NW to SE across the state during the evening and into tonight. There may be a few lingering snow showers on Friday morning, otherwise dry conditions are expected through the weekend. && .SHORT TERM...Today through Saturday afternoon Southwest flow ahead of the next system along with some clouds has kept temperatures from bottoming out this morning as they did yesterday morning, and valley temperatures are currently mainly in the 20's to the lower 30's. Southerly winds will increase later this morning becoming breezy in northern Nevada and quite windy in central Nevada, where Wind Advisories are in effect from 10 AM through this evening. This may kick up some dust in areas of central Nevada which have not had the snowfall that northern Nevada has recently experienced. This southerly flow will also cause temperatures to climb into the 40s today with some lower 50s across parts of central and western Nevada. A band of snow will begin to move into western Nevada in the late afternoon and then overspread the state from west to east Thursday evening and into the night before exiting the state sometime on Friday morning. This may cause some blowing snow during the evening hours. Snowfall amounts will be limited by the fairly quick movement of the snow band and are still expected to be 1/2 inch to 2 inches in the valleys and 3-6 inches in the mountains. A drier zonal flow moves into Nevada on Friday afternoon, continuing through Saturday. Cooler temperatures are expected on Friday, with highs in the upper 20's to the middle 30's. Lows Friday night will be in the teens to the lower 20's, as increasing clouds prevent even lower temperatures from occurring. Cloudy conditions continue into Saturday as a system brushes to the north of us. There may be a couple snow showers near the Idaho border, but that appears to be it. Highs will start creeping towards 40 again in the warmer valleys. .LONG TERM...Saturday night through next Thursday. Models again agree fairly well from Saturday night through Sunday evening with a quasi-zonal flow first, then building into a ridge over the Great Basin. The ridge axis is quite progressive and moves east of the state, into Utah, by Monday morning. A closed low or deep trough, depending on the model/ensemble, off the Pacific coast, begins to create southwest flow aloft Monday, which continues into Tuesday, but then model agreement breaks down. By Tuesday night, there is still the idea of a short wave trough over the Basin but detail differ. NBM has light pops everywhere north of Highway 50 from Tuesday morning through Thursday, with highest chances north of Interstate 80 to the Idaho/Oregon borders, and best over northeast Nevada. Snow totals from late Monday night through Wednesday afternoon will be light in the valleys with only higher mountains in the north receiving decent snowfalls. Some ridgetop winds may develop mid-week with the tightened thermal gradient aloft. Temperatures may rise to slightly above normals in the southwest flow, but will not be any kind of Indian Summer. Still, warmer than of recent date. && .AVIATION...VFR conditions with increasing high/mid-level clouds expected at all terminals through Thursday afternoon ahead of progressive upper trough and surface front. Areas of snow will accompany frontal passage from west to east Thursday evening/night while producing MVFR to brief intervals of IFR/LIFR conditions. Mountain obscurations will be present from the low clouds and snow. Gusty south to southwest surface winds of 30 to near 40 kts will develop on Thursday mainly at KELY and KTPH. LLWS possible as 40 to 50 KT winds will be present above valley inversions around/above 3000 feet later tonight through Thursday afternoon. && .LKN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Wind Advisory from 10 AM this morning to 10 PM PST this evening for Northeastern Nye County-Northwestern Nye County-Ruby Mountains/East Humboldt Range-South Central Elko County-Southern Lander County and Southern Eureka County-White Pine County. && 90/98/99
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Mathers Raws (MTHN2) elevation 9268 feet.
Timber Mountain (TMBN2), elevation 9000 feet.
Morey Creek Raws (MORN2) elevation 5500 feet.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, January 2020
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: 866022, 866021, 866023.