An atmospheric river and a low pressure system brought heavy snow to the Spring Mountains and isolated high wind to southern Nevada.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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 VEF wrote it up.
An atmospheric river and a low pressure system brought heavy snow to the Spring Mountains and isolated high wind to southern Nevada.
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 Dec 10, 2:11 PM PST, 4 hours 9 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 211 PM PST Sat Dec 10 2022 .SYNOPSIS...A major winter weather system is still on track to impact the forecast area this weekend and early next week. This system will bring strong winds, desert valley rain, heavy snow to the mountains and cold temperatures after its all said and done. Several winter weather headlines are in effect beginning today through Monday morning. && .SHORT TERM...through Monday. Current water vapor and infrared satellite imagery show the potent Pacific low moving onshore with it's associated atmospheric river (AR) crashing into the western slopes of the Sierra. From snow at higher elevations to rain in valleys to blowing dust to well below average temperatures through the end of next week, this system is the driving force of it all. In terms of snow, the primary impacts today will be winter storm conditions in the eastern slopes of the Sierra and White Mountains of Inyo County. 10-20 inches of snow will be possible between 5,000 - 7,000 feet in the eastern Sierra, with the potential for 20-30 inches of snow above 9,500 feet, and 30+ inches along the ridgeline. Snow accumulations in the White Mountains will be lower, but still impactful. Up to 6 inches of snow accumulation will be possible in the White Mountains between 5,000-7,000 feet with 8-12 inches possible above 7,000 feet. 6-10 inches of snow will be possible around Westgard Pass in the White Mountains, resulting in hazardous travel conditions. In addition to the snow in the mountains of Inyo County, winds are expected to gust up to 60 mph. Blowing snow in the mountains will result in reduced visibility and hazardous driving conditions. This combination of heavy snow and strong winds on an unstable snowpack has prompted the Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center to issue an Avalanche Warning for the eastern slopes of the Sierra from Virginia Lakes to Bishop Creek. Outside of the winter storm impacts in the mountains of Inyo County, we are also expecting wind impacts across western portion of our forecast area. As this Pacific system continues to push inland we will see south/southwesterly winds pick up across the forecast area later this afternoon. 40-50+ mph wind gusts across the western and northwestern portions of the forecast area will have the potential to result in blowing dust and difficult driving conditions. Rain and snow will continue to spill over the crest of the Sierra and will gradually push eastward throughout the afternoon and evening. By late this evening/early tomorrow morning precipitation will begin to impact Esmeralda and south central Nye counties. Snow levels will start off around 6,000 feet as precipitation begins, but will quickly drop to around 4,000 feet by late Sunday morning. Wind gusts in excess of 40 mph will coincide with the onset of precipitation in Esmeralda and Nye counties; this combination will result in the further degradation of driving conditions. The mountains of Inyo County will continue to experience winter storm conditions through Sunday into early Monday morning as the trough continues its trek inland. Synoptic lift out ahead of the trough axis will provide the lift necessary for precipitation to develop across the central and eastern portions of our forecast area on Sunday, fueling winter storm conditions in the Spring Mountains, Sheep Range, and Lincoln County beginning early Sunday morning. Snow levels in these areas will start off around 5,000-6,000 feet and will decrease throughout the day. That being said, precipitation is expected to fall as rain in the valleys and at elevations under 4,00- 5000 feet, with snow accumulating above 5,000 feet. 5-8 inches of snow will be possible between 6,000-7,000 feet, and 8-14 inches of snow will be possible above 7,000 feet in the Spring Mountains. The heaviest of this snow is expected to fall between 4:00 am PST and 4:00 pm PST, which coincides with when we are expecting the strongest winds in the Spring Mountains. This combination of wind and heavy snow will likely result in visibility reductions, making travel dangerous. In Lincoln County, a dusting of snow will be possible below 5,000 feet, but the majority of the snow accumulations will be above 5,000 feet with 6-12 inches possible. As was the case with the Spring Mountains, winds in Lincoln County will likely result in blowing snow and reduced visibility on Sunday. While there are no winter weather headlines for our portion of San Bernardino County on Sunday, a dusting of snow will be possible at higher elevations. This does include the Mountain Pass area along I- 15. Precipitation in this area will initially fall as rain before transitioning to snow, resulting in slick and hazardous driving conditions. By early Monday morning, winter storm conditions in the Sierra and White Mountains will be winding down, while Mohave County sees the best chances of precipitation. By the time precipitation makes it to Mohave County, snow levels will be around 4,000 feet. The bulk of the snow that falls in Mohave County will fall in the Arizona Plateau, where up to 5 inches of snow will be possible. Across the southern portion of Mohave County, up to 3 inches of snow will be possible above 6,000 feet. A dusting of snow will be possible for elevations between 4,000 and 6,000 feet; this does include the portions of I-40 between the eastern Mojave County line all the way to Kingman. Precipitation is expected to fall as rain in far southern Mohave county as well as the lower elevations of eastern Mohave County. By Monday afternoon the trough axis and precipitation chances will have shifted off to our east. .LONG TERM...Tuesday through next Monday. The new NBM sweeps the weekend system eastward with dry conditions area wide on Tuesday. 00z model data continues to show unseasonably cold temperatures settling in for an extended stay through this long term period. Morning low temperatures are forecast to drop to near or below freezing across much of the area with the exception of some of our lowest desert locations. Daytime high temperatures are forecast to be around 6-8 degrees below normal during this 4-day period. Some areas including Kingman my see morning lows flirting with hard freeze criteria by Wednesday. Even if it doesn't end up meeting criteria for a hard freeze, they will certainly see temperatures at or below freezing for 12-14 hours on multiple days during the middle to latter part of the week. Comparing the GEFS and EC ENS ensemble mean output shows north to northwest flow continuing over our area on Tuesday followed by zonal to southwest flow by the end of the week - depending on the ensemble system. It is sufficient to say, uncertainty in the pattern is high and confidence is low regarding the synoptic features of the pattern with zero confidence in details at the smaller regional scale. One area of relatively high confidence is the overall cooler than normal pattern doesn't show any sign of ending anytime soon. && .AVIATION...For Harry Reid...South-southwesterly winds will be common, generally less than 10 kts. Winds will increase toward Sunday morning to 12-16 kts and gusts of 20 to 25 kts. CIGs will become BKN080-100 after midnight tonight and temporarily drop below BKN050 with -RA during the afternoon. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...KBIH will experience south-southeasterly gusts to 30 kts into the evening hours before some reduction when the precipitation moves in. Other TAF locations should see lighter winds under 12 kts through the overnight hours. Sunday, south- southwesterly gusts move through the region, with gusts 25-30 kts being common. SCT-BKN aoa 20 kft through the day today, with ceilings dropping to 10-15 kft tonight. The exception will be KBIH, where ceilings will drop to 5kft this evening with -SHRA. Tonight and Sunday morning, precipitation chances at the KBIH terminal will allow ceilings to drop below 3 kft and VSBY below 3 SM at times. The other TAF locations will see lower CIGs on Sunday ranging between 4-8k ft and brief periods of CIGs under 3k ft. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && SHORT TERM...Stessman LONG TERM...Salmen AVIATION...Czyzyk 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
335 PM PST SAT DEC 10 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0309 PM SNOW 11 SW DEEP SPRINGS 37.28N 118.15W
12/10/2022 U1.0 INCH INYO CA LAW ENFORCEMENT
CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL REPORTS THAT STATE
ROUTE 168 IS BLOCKED BY A CAR STUCK IN THE
SNOW.
&&
MSThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind, 1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
These gusts occurred 3 miles NE of Mt. Charleston. High winds were intermittent during this period.
Eleven inches of snow fell at the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort.
This gust occurred at Indian Springs (KINS).
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, December 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: 1067052, 1067054, 1067053.