A fast moving storm system brought gusty winds to the Mojave Desert, with isolated high winds occurring.
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The episode as NWS VEF wrote it up.
A fast moving storm system brought gusty winds to the Mojave Desert, with isolated high winds occurring.
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 20, 2:03 AM PST, 8 hours 33 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 203 AM PST Sat Feb 20 2021 .SYNOPSIS...Gusty winds return to the region today as a weather disturbance moves through the area. A few light showers are also possible in the Sierra and southern Great Basin. Calmer conditions return Sunday with a warming trend for the early part of the week. Additional weather systems midweek onward will bring a return of cooler conditions and gusty winds at times. && .SHORT TERM...through Sunday night. Swiftly moving shortwave trough can clearly be seen pushing ashore this morning as a tightly wound circulation pushes into Northern California. This trough will zip across the Great Basin today and progress rapidly into the southern Rockies by late Saturday night. As this system slides through, pressure gradients will tighten during the morning hours, maximizing around midday before easing the remainder of the afternoon. Gusty pre-frontal winds will overspread the Western deserts and Morongo Basin through the morning, with post-frontal northerly winds pushing through during the afternoon. The ongoing wind advisories look good, specifically for the Western Deserts, Morongo Basin, central Mohave county, and parts of the Southern Great Basin. Elsewhere, locally windy conditions are possible, especially as the front moves through, but for areas such as Las Vegas overall extent and duration of the gusty winds appears sub-advisory. The incoming weather system will be quite moisture starved, so not expecting much in the way of shower activity. However, a few light showers may be wrung out in the Sierra. A few isolated light showers may also develop during the afternoon across Lincoln County as the cold pool aloft moves through. Much calmer conditions are in store for Sunday as high pressure ridging begins to take hold. Some lingering northerly breezes can be anticipated down the Colorado River Valley, though they will be below any headline thresholds. .LONG TERM...Monday through Saturday. Anomalous high pressure ridging building in from the eastern Pacific will result in a warming trend Monday and Tuesday, with afternoon highs climbing to nearly 10 degrees above normal by Tuesday. Thereafter, shortwave energy from western Canada will slide down the east side of the ridge and drag a cooler airmass and more gusty winds to the region on Wednesday. Much less confidence in the forecast details beyond midweek but cluster analysis supports the idea of a generally troughy pattern across the inland PacNw/Northern Rockies region which would keep our neck of the woods cool and breezy but generally dry. This is also reflected the latest CPC outlooks for the 6-10 and 8-14 day periods, favoring cooler and drier conditions for the Mojave Desert and Southern Great Basin regions. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...Light winds early will quickly increase later this morning. Moderate confidence that a period of west winds with gusts to around 20KT will develop mid morning, then a cold front moving through this afternoon will shift winds northwest and increase them further. Gusts this afternoon will likely jump to around 30KT, with moderate confidence that increasing northwest winds will arrive 19-22Z. While north winds will taper back slightly tonight, expected elevated winds above 10KT and at least intermittent gusts to around 20KT through Sunday morning. Best chance for gusts over 20KT tonight will be through 09Z, then gusts may become less frequent until Sunday midmorning. VFR clouds are expected, with CIGs above 15kft except with the cold front where FEW- SCT clouds around 6kft are briefly possible. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California... Increasing west to northwest wind are expected today across the region. Widespread gusts 25-35KT are likely by around midday, with the strongest winds across the DAG area where gusts over 40KT are expected. Moderate confidence in time and wind speeds for the TAF sites. Blowing dust is possible, especially around DAG. Winds in California will taper of quickly tonight, with gusts likely ending and winds falling below 10KT by midnight in many locations. Further east in southern Nevada, western Arizona, and down the Colorado River Valley, north to northwest winds should back off slightly but remain breezy with 20-25KT gusts persisting through the night. Outside of the winds, no impactful clouds are expected other than a FEW-SCT clouds around 6kft-10kft with the wind shift. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && DISCUSSION...Outler AVIATION...Nickerson 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.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
This gust occurred at Twentynine Palms (KNXP).
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2021Every state in 2021This day in weather historyWarnings in California, February 2021
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: 938823.