As plentiful moisture and jet energy streamed into the Pacific Northwest, unsettled weather continued across the Sierra and western Nevada. Periods of light showers and stronger westerly winds aloft allowed ridgeline winds to gust to 70 mph through this two day period.
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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.
As plentiful moisture and jet energy streamed into the Pacific Northwest, unsettled weather continued across the Sierra and western Nevada. Periods of light showers and stronger westerly winds aloft allowed ridgeline winds to gust to 70 mph through this two day period. Well not necessarily impactful, travel over the Sierra was difficult at times due to snow levels dropping with a slushy inch or two falling on regional mountain passes.
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 Dec 2, 2:31 AM PST, 11 hours 8 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Reno NV 231 AM PST Sat Dec 2 2023 .SYNOPSIS... Unsettled weather will continue through the remainder of the weekend, with periods of light showers and gusty winds. Travel may be difficult at times in the Sierra. Warmer and drier weather returns early next week. && .DISCUSSION... Current satellite imagery reveals an area of low pressure dropping into the Pacific Northwest this morning. This system will quickly trek southeast through the remainder of the day, eventually tracking into the Central Plains later this evening. Our region will remain on the southern fringes of greatest instability and moisture availability associated with this system. As such, our area won't see much from this system outside of some light showers over areas near the Oregon border as well as the central and northern Sierra after 6 AM, per high-res guidance. An upper-level jet orients overhead later this morning on the backside of the aforementioned low, transporting a plume of Pacific moisture to the Pacific Northwest and as far south as northern California. This will lead to more widespread shower coverage beginning early this afternoon, with best chances (70-80%) for measurable precipitation generally west of US-395 from Alpine County northward, and into far northern Washoe county. Snow levels will hover around 6000-6500 ft today before lifting above 7000 ft on Sunday. This will result in difficult travel over the Sierra today into Sunday morning, as 2-7 inches of total snow accumulation are possible. The upper jet also brings continued strong west to northwest winds aloft today, with ridge wind gusts increasing this morning and peaking around 70 mph late this morning into the early afternoon. Wind gusts to 20-30 mph are expected for valley locations across the region this afternoon, except far northern Washoe county where gusts upwards of 40 mph are possible. Upper-level ridging quickly fills in over the western US early next week, with drier and warmer conditions settling in through midweek. Temperatures will climb to 8-12 degrees above average by Tuesday. Another pattern change appears increasingly likely for the latter half of the week, with a general troughing pattern favored from Thursday into next weekend. This pattern will promote some flavor of cooler and potentially wetter conditions during this period. Whitlam && .AVIATION... Sustained FL100 winds between 30-50 kts will continue today through Sunday morning, with periods of mountain wave turbulence and wind shear possible. Surface wind gusts will increase to 15-25 kts for all regional terminals between 18-06z today. Periods of rain and snow are possible after 16z today, mainly for the central/northern Sierra, Tahoe Basin, northeast CA, and far northern NV. Intermittent, spotty showers will continue through early Sunday morning, bringing periods of lowering CIGS/VIS and terrain obscuration, especially for KTVL and KTRK. Whitlam && .REV Watches/Warnings/Advisories... NV...None. CA...None. &&
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Mesonet station (CEDC) located 3.8 mi N of Cedarville, CA and mesonet station (SSYC1-Surprise Valley) located 3.0 mi ESE Lake City, CA, reported peak wind gusts 60 mph and 58 mph respectively.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in California, December 2023
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: 1152305.