Strong easterly post-frontal winds increased across the Sierra Crest Friday morning into the afternoon.
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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.
Strong easterly post-frontal winds increased across the Sierra Crest Friday morning into the afternoon.
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 Jan 14, 1:45 AM PST, 8 hours 15 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Reno NV
145 AM PST Fri Jan 14 2022
.SYNOPSIS...
Breezy east winds today with cooler temperatures into the weekend.
A ridge builds overhead this weekend, which will continue the dry
conditions into the middle of next week and bring a gradual
warming trend next week.
&&
.SHORT TERM...
Little change made to the ongoing forecast.
Strengthening surface high over the northern Great Basin behind a
dry frontal passage will induce an easterly gradient, with east
winds increasing aloft this morning. Winds will peak mid-
afternoon, with 700 mb speeds around 40-50 mph, translating to
gusts potentially reaching 80 mph for Sierra crest. Anticipate
impacts for backcountry recreation and choppy conditions on Lake
Tahoe, along with rough air for aviators. Some wind will surface
in lower valley locations as well, but gusts will generally remain
under 20 mph. Winds will slowly decrease overnight into Saturday.
After a record high of 64 degrees on Thursday at KRNO (previous
record of 63 was last year, interestingly enough), temps will be
closer to normal today and Saturday.
Ridge of high pressure remains the dominant player in the weather
over the west, though a closed low tries to undercut the ridge
going into the weekend. This doesn't appear to do much to the
appreciable weather. More details in the long term section below.
-Dawn
.LONG TERM...Sunday through next week...
* Continued dry weather pattern prevails next week with above
average daytime temperatures and generally light winds.
The remainder of the weekend will feature a weak upper low off the
southern CA coast with a ridge axis over northern CA-NV. This low is
expected to eject inland Monday but weaken with limited moisture and
forcing. At best, a few light showers may develop over the Sierra
late Monday but this is a less than 10% probability.
Then for the remainder of next week, another ridge rebuilds across
the western US, with its center varying in location from the western
Great Basin to the Pacific Northwest, and possibly retrograding off
the west coast. A weak shortwave may drop into the Great Basin
during the mid-late week time frame but its main effects look to be
a shift to northeast-east winds, possibly becoming gusty over the
Sierra ridges.
Inversions will keep valleys cool at night with high temperatures
generally in the 45-55 degree range for western NV and Sierra
valleys. Some haze buildup especially for urban valleys can be
anticipated next week with several days of light winds. MJD
&&
.AVIATION...
* Greatest concern will be strengthening east winds today. Winds
will be sustained around 35-45 kts at FL100, leading to rough
air along and west of the Sierra crest. Terminals will remain
under 15-20 kts for max gusts this afternoon.
* Winds will begin to decrease tonight, becoming lighter for the
weekend.
* Widespread VFR conditions with periods of passing mid-high
level clouds through the weekend. East winds and dry surface air
should mitigate fog development at KTRK. -Dawn
&&
.CLIMATE...
Reno's record high of 64 degrees yesterday surpassed the previous
record of 63 for January 13, which occurred just one year ago. It's
rather rare to have new record highs set on the same date in two
consecutive years, although this event did occur last year on
September 7.
With no signs of rain or snow even into the later part of January,
we're at risk of seeing a record that most of us don't want to see
broken. There has never been a January in Reno's official history
completely absent of raindrops or snowflakes. The driest Januarys
are included here:
Trace - 1966
0.01" - 1948 and 1991
0.04" - 1920
0.05" - 1899 and 1917
MJD
&&
.REV Watches/Warnings/Advisories...
NV...Lake Wind Advisory until 6 PM PST this evening for Lake Tahoe in
NVZ002.
CA...Lake Wind Advisory until 6 PM PST this evening for Lake Tahoe in
CAZ072.
&&
For more information from the National Weather Service visit...
http://weather.gov/renoThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Mesonet station (KWSIX) located at Chair 6 Ridge at Kirkwood Meadows Ski resort reported a wind gust from the ENE to 109mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in California, January 2022
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: 992533.