Strong pressure and thermal gradients tighten across eastern Sierra following cold-frontal (Inside Slider) passage across the region. The result was strong east-northeast ridge winds across the Sierra Crest and areas east in and around Lake Tahoe.
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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 pressure and thermal gradients tighten across eastern Sierra following cold-frontal (Inside Slider) passage across the region. The result was strong east-northeast ridge winds across the Sierra Crest and areas east in and around Lake Tahoe. Some ridge top wind gusts in and around Mammoth Mtn exceeded 70-80 mph.
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 22, 2:10 AM PST, 5 hours 50 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Reno NV 210 AM PST Sat Jan 22 2022 .SYNOPSIS... Gusty east winds will continue today in the Sierra, with strong winds along the immediate crest. Lighter breezes are on tap for western Nevada and the lower valleys of northeast California through Saturday. After seasonable temperatures this weekend, warmer conditions return next week. Meaningful precipitation remains unlikely through the end of January. && .DISCUSSION... An upper level low moving into Arizona, with high pressure building back into the Pacific Northwest, continues to keep a sharp pressure gradient along the Sierra crest this morning with gusts of 100+ mph right along the crest. As the upper level low continues to track into New Mexico, pressure gradients will weaken through the day today with strong winds along the crest slowly subsiding. Lighter east winds can be expected through the rest of the region with wind gusts 10-20 mph for most areas. Much lighter winds will return Sunday and for much of next week as high pressure continues to build over the western U.S. Temperatures, right around average today and Sunday, will jump back to above average for the week with highs in the upper 40s to mid 50s for most of the region. Precipitation signals remain dry through next week; however, long range ensemble models generally continue to agree on a return to a wetter pattern around the first week of February. There does still remain a lot of variability on the timing of more substantial snow events returning to the Sierra. As high pressure slowly retrogrades, expect initial cold storms on the drier side until storms can return to an overwater trajectory. -Zach && .AVIATION... Strong east winds 80+ knots continue this morning along the Sierra crest in response to a tight pressure gradient between CA/NV. Surface gusts up to 10-20 kts will continue today with LLWS possible for Sierra terminals. Otherwise VFR conditions with light winds return Sunday and are expected to last through next week. -Zach && .REV Watches/Warnings/Advisories... NV...Lake Wind Advisory until noon PST today NVZ002. CA...Lake Wind Advisory until noon PST today CAZ072. && For more information from the National Weather Service visit... http://weather.gov/reno
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Mesonet site (SLIDE) located on Slide Mountain, NV reported a wind gust of 72 mph at 0820 LST.
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, 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: 993620.