Strong low pressure digging south out of the northeast Pacific brought heavy precipitation, mostly snow, to Inyo County.
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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 VEF wrote it up.
Strong low pressure digging south out of the northeast Pacific brought heavy precipitation, mostly snow, to Inyo County.
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 Feb 24, 1:50 AM PST, 2 hours 10 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 150 AM PST Fri Feb 24 2023 .SYNOPSIS...Potent winter storm will impact the area today through Sunday morning. Very heavy snow expected for the mountains while rainfall in the lower desert will generally range from a quarter inch up to one inch. Travel will be greatly impacted on many of our main travel corridors, while downed trees and power outages possible as well. An active weather pattern persists into next week. && .SHORT TERM...Through Sunday night. Shortwave lifting northeast into SW Utah early this morning did produce that mix of rain/snow/graupel and even a few thunderstorms in Clark, eastern San Bernardino, Mohave Counties late afternoon and evening. Satellite and radar confirm cloudtops warming and radar echos are on the decrease. Not anticipating much in the way of additional accumulations so will probably cancel those Winter Storm Warnings for Mohave and the Spring Mountains early. Break is quite brief as compact, deep low is currently positioned off the northwest coast of California. Precipitation shield is blanketing the northern half of California, while upslope flow has started to increase into the southern Sierra. Upper low progged to continue moving south off the California coast today with precipitation increase over Inyo, Esmeralda and central Nye Counties today. Outside of the mountains of western Lincoln and Clark Counties where some light snow is possible, little to no precipitation expected elsewhere. Main show will really get going across Inyo, Esmeralda, and Nye counties tonight into Saturday moves onshore around Pt. Conception. Diffluent flow east of the upper low over those western counties has the makings of a significant winter storm. ECMWF EFI for snowfall has been consistent in indicating threat for anomalous snowfall today and Saturday. Snow levels will start out around 2000 feet this morning before rising to 4000-4500 feet during the time of heaviest precipitation tonight and Saturday morning. Snow levels then lower back to 3500-4000 feet Saturday afternoon and evening. Doubt Bishop breaks its February 2-day snowfall record of 17.6 inches from 1976. Latest forecast continues to call for 6-12" within the Owens Valley with 2-4 feet in the Sierra, White Mountains and even the Panamint Range in Death Valley NP. Let's not forecast about Esmeralda and central Nye Counties with 1-2 feet forecast for Goldfield, Dyer and the NNSS. Lets just say, travel will be extremely dangerous or impossible. Down trees and power outages possible as well. As the low starts to progress further inland, precipitation shield will advance east across Lincoln, Clark, San Bernardino, and finally Mohave Counties mainly Saturday into Sunday morning. Snow levels will start out higher in these counties around 4000 feet today, rising to 5000-6000 feet tonight and Saturday morning before falling back to 4000-5000 feet Saturday afternoon, and finally 2500-3500 feet by Sunday morning. ECMWF EFI snowfall values not as 'extreme' for the Spring Mtns or Lincoln County but still expecting heavy snowfall with accumulations measured in feet. This system may take a run at the February 2-Day snowfall record at Mt. Charleston. Current record is 25 inches from February 16-17, 2009. Somewhat rare for Lincoln County, but heaviest snow is forecast across the western half and central mountains of the county. Rachel probably see 6-12", while Pioche and Mountains Spring Summit on Highway 160 will likely range between 4-8". Again, travel will be extremely dangerous or impossible in the mountains. Only new additions to our slew of winter weather headlines will be upgrading the watch to a winter storm warning in northeast San Bernardino County with 3-6" forecast at Mountain Pass on I-15 Saturday night, and issuing a winter storm warning above 4000 feet in Mohave County Saturday night-Sunday morning as am forecasting 4- 10". For the lower desert floors, rainfall amounts will range mostly between 0.25"-1.00". Locally 1-2" possible in the upslope area of Highway 62 between Morongo Valley and Yucca Valley in San Bernardino County. There should be some flowing water in normally dry washes, flood channels and potentially across low water crossings. For none winter related products, I will be issuing a wind advisory for parts of San Bernardino County today and tonight. Likely some spots will see gusts of 40-50 mph. Temperatures not as cold the next two days across the eastern half of our area today and Saturday. Colder temperatures return Sunday. .LONG TERM...Monday through Thursday. The active weather pattern will persist into next week a a long wave trough continues to sit over the West Coast. Occasional rounds of precipitation are likely, with the current forecast targeting the Monday and/or Tuesday timeframe then again on Wednesday and/or Thursday (depending on the timing and strength of the systems, which long range model shave yet to resolve). There is also the question of how much moisture will be available with each round of precipitation. The early week system shows a weak atmospheric river moving in as the trough swings into the west coast, though the Sierra may get the brunt of the moisture as EFIs highlight that area with the highest potential for anomalous moisture. It is uncertain how far inland the moisture plume will get and thus precipitation impacts are low confidence. Snow levels with the early week system will be higher than the current system so low elevation snow impacts should be lower and less widespread than what will be moving in the next few days. Winds will be breezy but not expecting any high impacts winds out of any of the incoming systems based on EFIs, low level wind profiles, and ensembles probabilities for high winds. There is significant differences in the models with the second midweek system, so details are unknown at this time. The Climate Prediction Center shows the potential for above normal precipitation and below normal temperatures through the period, which seems to capture the overall idea for that time frame well. .AVIATION...For Harry Reid...Winds are expected to remain south overnight, but should generally turn light through approximately sunrise this morning. Gusty conditions are expected to resume this afternoon, with the wind direction between 140-190 with speeds around 15 knots and gusts to around 25 knots. Winds will again diminish to under 10 knots after sunset this evening. Clouds will lower through the day as significant moisture moves into the region. CIGs are forecast to lower to around 5-6k feet this afternoon and remain through Saturday with widespread precipitation moving into the valley during the day Saturday. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...Most areas will see winds generally less than 10 knots through sunrise, but increase during the morning hours out of the southeast to south. Most areas will see wind speeds 15-20 knots with gusts between 30-35 knots this afternoon with decreasing speeds after sunset. At KBIH, CIGs are forecast to begin dropping early this morning as moisture and precipitation moves in. Expecting CIGs as low as 1-2kft once snow moves in. Snow will reduce visibility throughout the Owens Valley. Elsewhere, cloud bases will lower to 4- 6kft later this morning and afternoon and generally remain in place through Saturday as widespread precipitation moves through the region. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && SHORT TERM...Pierce LONG TERM...Nickerson AVIATION...Gorelow For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: https://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 heavy snow, 2 winter weather, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A total of 16.2 inches of snow fell 1.7 miles SW of Bishop. Highway 395 was closed through the Owens Valley for a period after several vehicles spun out and became stuck.
A total of 39.2 inches of snow fell at Aspendell.
Multiple vehicles were stuck in snow on Highway 190 at Towne Pass and the Darwin turn off. The highway was closed for three hours.
Flooding and rocks were over Highway 190 at Panamint Valley Road.
Highway 168 was closed from Big Pine to the Nevada state line at 2000 PST due to snow and multiple jackknifed big rigs.
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, February 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: 1084304, 1084303, 1084305, 1084312, 1084313.