A fast-moving winter storm brought widespread moderate snow and gusty winds across higher elevation areas of the region in the afternoon and evening. Some travel impacts likely down to lower elevations.
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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 REV wrote it up.
A fast-moving winter storm brought widespread moderate snow and gusty winds across higher elevation areas of the region in the afternoon and evening. Some travel impacts likely down to lower elevations.
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 Reno, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 8, 3:18 AM PST, 6 hours 42 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Reno NV
318 AM PST Wed Dec 8 2021
.SYNOPSIS...
A quick but potent storm will bring widespread snow and rain this
evening through Thursday, with some travel impacts likely down to
lower elevations. Sharply colder conditions continue into the
weekend. Next week looks to be quite active with potentially
significant winter weather conditions and travel impacts
especially for the Sierra.
&&
.SHORT TERM...
Few changes were made to the ongoing forecast as a fast moving but
colder and wetter storm system moves across CA-NV tonight and
Thursday, followed by a sharply colder in temperatures behind
this storm late Thursday through Friday night.
Currently, areas of fog/stratus are again impacting the I-80
corridor west of the CA-NV border, parts of the Tahoe basin, the
Carson valley and Mono County based on satellite/observations/web
cameras. This fog should disperse by mid-late morning, followed
by some increase in winds with gusts 20-30 mph for lower
elevations and Sierra ridge gusts of 50-70 mph.
The snowfall projections in the current Winter Weather Advisory
statement remain intact, with the best accumulation certainty for
areas above 6000 feet where the precip will essentially be all
snow. For areas below 6000 feet, we'll see a transition from rain
to snow during the overnight-early morning north of US-50, and
mid-late morning near and south of US-50 with a cold front
passage. High resolution guidance also indicates some good forcing
during this transition so most areas are likely to see at least a
short period of enhanced snowfall rates of 1"/hour or more.
Accumulations on paved surfaces may be limited below 5000 feet
except during short bursts of peak snow intensity, but the
current timing suggests a messy Thursday AM commute for the urban
areas, with reduced visibility and wet roads at a minimum, with
increasing chance for snow or slush for travel routes that go up
in elevation.
For Thursday afternoon-early evening as the main snow area pushes
farther south, colder air moving across the relatively warmer
lakes could increase the possibility of lake effect snow bands
forming south and east of the main lakes including Tahoe, Pyramid
and Walker. The wind trajectories don't look to be ideal for
prolonged or persistent snow bands, but some localized travel
impacts with quick drops in visibility and slick conditions could
be encountered on small sections of US-50 between South Tahoe-
Carson City, I-80/NV-447 in the Nixon-Wadsworth-Fernley areas,
and US-95 around Hawthorne.
Temperatures will then plunge Thursday night as cloud cover
decreases, with lows dropping into the teens or single digits
(colder end of this range where snow cover is present) with colder
Sierra valleys dropping below zero. Highs on Friday will only
reach the 30s-near 40 in most areas despite mostly sunny
conditions, followed by another similar cold night heading into
the weekend. MJD
.LONG TERM (Saturday into Next Week)...
A cold morning will be in store on Saturday with widespread lows
in the teens and single digits for colder outlying valleys across
western Nevada. The Sierra will also experience teens and single
digits will colder locations such as Truckee, Boca, Bridgeport,
Bodie, etc seeing frigid sub-zero temperatures. Daytime
temperatures will remain cool but seasonable through the weekend
with highs in the 40s across the Sierra and western Nevada.
Alright, now for the reason you're probably reading the long term
section of the forecast discussion. Confidence is increasing in
seeing significant winter weather impacts in the Sierra as a deep,
cold, and slow moving longwave trough forms off the West Coast.
In terms of what is coming into better focus and what remains lower
confidence at this time are as follows:
* The development of the large scale trough is looking solid as it
is supported by multi-ensemble guidance with the top clustered
ensemble analysis patterns all showing its development.
* Most uncertainty lies with the duration/timing of the trough which
is where much of the variance lies with ensemble solutions. While
the associated AR moisture tap looks lower end, it is the duration
of the event or the slow moving nature that gives this storm the
potential for significant snowfall pick ups across the Sierra.
* As such, the expected storm total snow still shows high
variability so I wouldn't get too attached to any single model
run output. That said, the trend is increasing even in the
lower end scenarios (25th percentile) that feet of snowfall will
be possible across the Sierra. We will get a better sense for
expected totals over the coming days. So it is increasingly
likely we could see several days of significant and prolonged
impacts across the Sierra as early as Sunday and extending even
into next Wednesday.
* Across western Nevada, rain-snow lines may favor more rainfall
formation at the onset but chances for snowfall will increase
once the low starts pushing inland as the colder air arrives.
Overall, the main message is to take a serious look at
contingency plans if you have any Sierra travel plans from
Sunday through the middle of next week. Fuentes
&&
.AVIATION...
Patchy fog or low stratus will affect KTVL/KCXP/KMEV, with more
widespread FZFG at KTRK, until around 16Z.
Wind gusts between 15 to 25 mph at terminals with ridge top gusts
approaching 70 mph will yield the likelihood of aviation
turbulence by early this afternoon. A cold front with a decent
swath of moisture will then push through the region from north to
south this evening through early Thursday morning. Snow at higher
elevations and a rain/snow mix at lower elevation terminals will
transition over to snow by early-mid morning, producing several
hours of IFR/LIFR conditions and snow accumulation (about 3-6" on
pavement) at Sierra sites, and MVFR-IFR conditions with light
slushy amounts (up to 1" on pavement) for the lower elevation
sites. MJD
&&
.REV Watches/Warnings/Advisories...
NV...Winter Weather Advisory from 8 PM this evening to 4 PM PST
Thursday above 5000 feet in NVZ001-003-004.
Winter Weather Advisory from 4 PM this afternoon to noon PST
Thursday above 4500 feet in NVZ005.
Winter Weather Advisory from 8 PM this evening to 4 PM PST
Thursday NVZ002.
CA...Winter Weather Advisory from 4 PM this afternoon to noon PST
Thursday above 4500 feet in CAZ070-071.
Winter Weather Advisory from 1 AM to 4 PM PST Thursday CAZ073.
Winter Weather Advisory from 8 PM this evening to 4 PM PST
Thursday CAZ072.
&&
For more information from the National Weather Service visit...
http://weather.gov/renoThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Mt Rose Ski Tahoe reported 6 inches of new snowfall in the last 24 hours.
Trained weather spotter reported 3 inches of new snowfall at 7,600 feet.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2021Every state in 2021This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, December 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: 988584, 988585.