California, 2022

High Wind in California, January 21 to 22, 2022

January 21 to 22, 2022 · NWS REV · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

Strong pressure and thermal gradients tighten across eastern Sierra following cold-frontal (Inside Slider) passage across the region. The result was strong east-northeast winds across the Sierra Crest and westward with some wind gusts exceeding 100 mph across higher ridges.

Where it happened

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.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
2

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS REV wrote it up.

Strong pressure and thermal gradients tighten across eastern Sierra following cold-frontal (Inside Slider) passage across the region. The result was strong east-northeast winds across the Sierra Crest and westward with some wind gusts exceeding 100 mph across higher ridges.

What forecasters said that day

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 21, 1:50 AM PST, 9 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 21, 1:50 AM PST, 9 hours 40 minutes before
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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Mono

When
January 21, 11:30 AM PST to 12:30 PM PST
Where
Mono forecast zone
Measured
104 kt (120 mph) measured gust
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
37.939, -118.887 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Mesonet station Mammoth Summit, CA-Mono, CA (MTH03-Mammoth) reported a NE wind gusts of 120 mph at 11:40AM (LST).

High Wind, Greater Lake Tahoe Area

When
January 22, 1:00 AM PST to 2:00 AM PST
Where
Greater Lake Tahoe Area forecast zone
Measured
103 kt (119 mph) measured gust
Reported by
Mesonet
Coordinates
38.935, -120.458 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Mesonet station Summit/Ward Mt-Alpine, CA (SUMAM-Tahoe) reported a NE wind gust of 119 mph at 01:30AM (LST).

What these are

High Wind
Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in California in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in California, January 2022

Sources

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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 993464, 993463.