A persistent band of snow on the northern side of a cold low pressure system brought isolated heavy snow totals to the southern Great Basin.
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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 VEF wrote it up.
A persistent band of snow on the northern side of a cold low pressure system brought isolated heavy snow totals to the southern Great Basin.
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 Mar 10, 7:35 PM PST, 5 hours 25 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 735 PM PST Wed Mar 10 2021 .SYNOPSIS...A large and slow moving Pacific storm system will begin to affect our region and bring cool showery weather through Friday. Scattered to numerous showers are possible each day with mainly light snow accumulations in the higher terrain above 4000 feet. Dry conditions return over the weekend with moderating temperatures. && .UPDATE...Radar continues to show scattered showers across eastern Clark and northern Mohave County this evening. Some isolated light showers are also being detected west of Las Vegas over the Spring Mtns. Shower movement continues toward the northeast. Elsewhere, loss of daytime heating has brought a significant decrease in radar returns. For the rest of tonight, guidance shows most of the light showers activity persisting across northern Mohave County then wrapping back westward across Lincoln, central Nye and Esmeralda Counties. Light flurries will continue over the Spring Mtns and Sheep Range. Any new accumulations will likely be less than 1". Cold upper low presently over northern California will slowly sag south across southern California and the southern Great Basin by late Thursday afternoon. Conditions will be very similar to today as the air mass destabilizes under steepening lapse rates under cold pool aloft. Would expect to see some of our stronger, but brief storm cores occur southeast of I-15 tomorrow afternoon/early evening. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. && .DISCUSSION...Tonight through Wednesday. The weather pattern through the rest of the week will be dominated by a closed upper level low drifting across the Southwest US. This will bring several rounds of showers and cooler temperatures to the region. The current area of showers should continue to rotate northeast this evening and overnight. Coverage should also decrease with the loss of daytime heating and general diffuse forcing instead of any specific focused forcing like we have this afternoon. Best chances tonight should be over the southern Great Basin. The main low will shift eastward on Thursday. Expecting an uptick in showery activity again tomorrow afternoon, with at least some chance for precipitation across the entire area as temperatures aloft will be cooler than today. Basically, there will be a lot of hit and miss showers, with the most widespread activity over the higher terrain as well as through northern Mohave through Lincoln and Nye counties. Much like today, precipitation amounts should be light with a few moderate bursts but with showers moving along quickly- it likely wont result in any impacts. With cold core processes, a few thunderstorms will also be possible, mainly north of I-15. Show should be confined to above about 3500-4000ft. The models continue to highlight the slower trend for the exiting low Friday. Precipitation chances have increased since the previous forecast, especially in Clark, Lincoln, and Mohave counties. Lower confidence in the QPF for Friday since models are having a hard time resolving the exit of the system, however anticipating similar precipitation totals to today and tomorrow. Also lower confidence in isolated thunderstorms developing Friday afternoon, but included a mention of thunder in areas south of the I-15. The system should finally exit the area Saturday. Behind the low, increasing north winds are likely. Winds should increase in Esmeralda and northern Inyo Friday, as they will have the best chance for the system clearing the region and northerly flow will take over. More widespread northerly winds are expected Saturday, though models remain inconsistent on the strength of the winds. Currently not seeing anything that would suggest high impact winds. Low confidence in the long range forecast continues as an active pattern continues next week. Increasing confidence that there will be a lull on Sunday with dry weather and moderating temperatures after well below temperature through Friday. After that, a series of systems will likely impact the region but unsure when and what kind of impacts would result. && .AVIATION...For McCarran... Gusty southwest winds will continue into the evening hours until about 03Z when southerly wind will become less gusty after sundown with wind remaining around 10 kt through the night. Periods of CIGS around 10kft can be expected. Periods of VCSH or -RA are likely through the TAF period. During showers, we could see CIGS drop to 5kft. light and variable winds return after 15Z Thursday before picking up again from the southwest around mid day with gusts to 20 kt. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California... South to Southwesterly winds continue across the Mojave Desert this afternoon with gusts of 25-30 kts for the Las Vegas Valley sites and KDAG. Southerly winds are gusting from 20-25 kts along the Colorado River Valley. These winds will continue into the evening hours when we lose daylight after about 03Z when wind will decrease a little and become less gusty. Isolated showers are expected through the TAF period at every TAF site. Where showers develop, terminals can expect gusty, erratic winds from the direction of the showers as well as a CIG drop to 3-5 kft. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && UPDATE...Pierce DISCUSSION...Nickerson AVIATION...Berc For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: https://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
850 PM PST WED MAR 10 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0455 PM NON-TSTM WND GST HENDERSON EXECUTIVE AIR 35.98N 115.13W
03/10/2021 M58 MPH CLARK NV AWOS
PEAK WIND GUST OF 58 MPH.
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Multiple sources estimated eight to 10 inches of snow in Goldfield. Several vehicles got stuck on Highway 95.
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, March 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: 938878.