Scatted snow showers brought light accumulations to far Western Nevada and the Eastern Sierra.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 REV wrote it up.
Scatted snow showers brought light accumulations to far Western Nevada and the Eastern Sierra.
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 Mar 11, 12:55 PM PST, 4 hours 5 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Reno NV 1255 PM PST Thu Mar 11 2021 .SYNOPSIS... Scattered snow showers will gradually diminish this evening, but a few snow showers will continue in the eastern Sierra for Friday. A warming trend this weekend with dry conditions, then another storm possible Sunday night into Monday. && .SHORT TERM... Snow showers across the eastern Sierra and western Nevada are ongoing and will continue into the evening. Overall, the instability isn't as great as yesterday so the showers overall should be a little less intense. The threat of any thunderstorms is also lower, but will leave them in for now as we haven't reached peak heating. The snow showers will rapidly diminish after sunset, but some snow showers will continue through Friday morning for the eastern Sierra where east upslope flow will wring out any moisture left. Elsewhere will see less cloud cover Friday with warmer temperatures as ridging aloft builds in. North winds will also gradually become a bit lighter. Saturday looks like a beautiful March day with warmer temps near normal, sunshine and light winds. Overnight lows will continue to be below average though with clear skies for good radiational cooling. X .LONG TERM...Sunday onward... Sunday looks to remain on the mild side with increasing southwest winds late day helping with mixing. We're still watching a fast moving trough for Sunday night into Monday, but there remains a lot of "noise" in the operational and ensemble solutions. What we know: there will be a trough with increasing southwest winds and chances for precipitation. What we don't is if the trough will remain intact or if we'll see a split, with there solid ensemble support for either solution. As far as snow totals, NBM probabilities are showing nothing in the 25th percentile for any location, with 6-8" in the 75th and 8-16" of snow in the 90th percentile for Sierra snow. For western Nevada, going into the 75th percentile yields a dusting up to 1 inch. The other wildcard, is the convective enhancement potential, similar to what we saw with the storm the past couple of days, with snow pellets also possible. Snow levels may yield a mix below 6000' to start Sunday night, but the air mass is potentially cold enough for snow at all elevations by Monday morning. In either solution, we'll see an increase in southwesterly winds and cooler temps due to a cold frontal passage, however, the surface/thermal gradient will be stronger if the trough directly pushes through the region. Sunday afternoon through Monday could certainly bring choppy conditions to area lakes, difficult travel for high profile vehicles, and turbulence/wind shear for aviation interests. There remains significant temperature spread in ensemble guidance, with the NBM showing a 20+ degree spread in high temperatures from the 10th to 90th percentiles on Monday -- anywhere from upper 30s to low 60s for lower valley locations. The remainder of the week we'll see warming conditions, with near to slightly above normal temperatures. There isn't much activity out in the Pacific, but the few weak hints in the IVT probs (EPS/GEFS) are north of 40N. This would mean the best storm potential is into the Pacific Northwest, or even British Columbia. A few weak brush-by type systems do remain possible March 18-23, especially for areas closer to the Oregon border, but this unfortunately isn't going to do much for the snowpack. -Dawn && .AVIATION... Mainly VFR the next 48 hours, but with a couple exceptions. Through about 03Z this evening, scattered snow showers will bring local MVFR/IFR conditions at times. Also, upslope flow in the eastern Sierra will continue to bring more MVFR CIGS and mtn obscuration through 20Z Friday. As far as winds, they will be generally light and from the north for the next 48 hours. However, a bit gustier ridge winds are likley over the Sierra Friday night with peak gusts to 50 mph and some mtn wave turbulence. The next storm is possible Sunday night into Monday and would bring some MVFR/IFR to the Sierra for a period of time. However, it is not a sure thing we will even see a storm with the storm chances about 70%. Even then, it is not a big storm, something similar to the current low and not as long lasting. X && .REV Watches/Warnings/Advisories... NV...None. CA...None. && For more information from the National Weather Service visit... http://weather.gov/reno
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV
1232 PM PST THU MAR 11 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0700 AM SNOW 1 N SPAULDING 40.66N 120.78W
03/10/2021 M1.0 INCH LASSEN CA TRAINED SPOTTER
1 INCH OF SNOW MEASURED OVERNIGHT.
&&
MBPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV
342 PM PST THU MAR 11 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0341 PM SNOW 3 NE SPANISH SPRINGS 39.65N 119.69W
03/11/2021 M0.5 INCH WASHOE NV TRAINED SPOTTER
MORNING SNOW MEASUREMENT FROM OVERNIGHT
SNOWFALL. PRECIPITATION 0.06 INCH.
0338 PM SNOW 2 N STEWART 39.15N 119.76W
03/11/2021 M1.0 INCH CARSON CITY NV TRAINED SPOTTER
MORNING SNOW MEASUREMENT FROM OVERNIGHT
SNOWFALL. PRECIPITATION 0.08 INCH.
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Snowfall amounts ranging from zero to 3 inches fell from snow showers in the Sierra Front. 3 inches are measured the morning of the 12th at Minden.
Snow showers brought up to 3 inches accumulation to the east side of Lake Tahoe.
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: 947291, 947292.