A cold low pressure area tracked from the Gulf of Alaska to the Mojave Desert, bringing low elevation snow.
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.
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.
A cold low pressure area tracked from the Gulf of Alaska to the Mojave Desert, bringing low elevation snow.
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 Mar 1, 8:45 AM PST, 15 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 845 AM PST Wed Mar 1 2023 .SYNOPSIS...A major winter storm will impact the region through today, bringing strong winds and low elevation snowfall chances. Snow accumulations on mountain roadways will likely result in significant travel impacts. The storm will depart to the east tonight, with gusty northerly winds lingering through Thursday. Drier conditions and a slow warming trend are expected into the weekend. && .UPDATE...It's the first day of climatological Spring yet we have plenty of winter weather to talk about this morning. Overall, much anticipated storm system is moving through about as expected thus far. Primary frontal precipitation band is currently aligned with the I-15 corridor with the back edge of the precipitation shield likely to move into the Las Vegas Valley in the next hour or so. Rain has recently transitioned to snow in Barstow-Daggett with the ASOS out there currently reporting light snow and 4 mile visibility, and Pahrump reported a period of moderate snowfall as well on the backside of the precipitation shield. Closer to Las Vegas, off and on snowfall has been reported down to around 3000 feet in the higher elevation neighborhoods of the metro for much of the morning, and the snow level is now descending with the cold advection on the back edge of the precip band. Won't be surprised to see a brief period of snow all the way down the Las Vegas Strip level before the precipitation tapers off later this morning. Further east, precipitation around Kingman has begun as rain but will transition to snow by lunchtime as the heavier precipitation rates get going. Additional wrap around snow showers will persist into the evening hours with another shot at some snow showers later in the day for the Las Vegas Valley, and keeping snow accumulations going across Mohave County. The current forecast remains in pretty good shape with no updates needed at the moment. -Outler- && .SHORT TERM...through Thursday night. Early morning satellite loop showed complex low pressure over the West Coast. On its front side, large scale ascent was increasing along the I-15 corridor, which had already led to a burst of snow on Mountain Pass. Overall precipitation coverage will increase through the morning as the low draws closer. Snow levels were starting out around 4000 feet over much of the region early this morning, and will fall from west to east as the cold core approaches. By midday, expect a complicated situation as the low tracks over and a dry slot sets up roughly along I-15. In the warm air advection zone east of the dry slot, snow levels could stubbornly stay up around 4000 feet, which is still low enough to impact I-40 east of Kingman, but would keep rain in Kingman proper. In the dry slot, snow levels fall below 3000 feet thanks to the evaporative cooling potential, but steady snow will be unlikely because of the drying, so snow potential would be mainly limited to showers. Farther west in the wraparound moisture/possible developing TROWAL, snow would be more predominant, but snow levels would be about 3000-4000 feet due to the ribbon of warm air being pulled around the low. As the afternoon wears on and cold air starts to win out, rain in Kingman should change to snow. As the TROWAL translates east, it should bring one last burst of snow to the Spring Mountains, Mountain Pass, the Mojave National Preserve, and the higher elevations of Las Vegas around and shortly after sunset. Snow chances will finally exit northern Mohave County overnight, and our area will then be dry into the long term period. Ongoing Winter Storm Warnings, Winter Weather Advisories, High Wind Warnings, and Wind Advisories capture the ongoing and expected trends reasonably well. .LONG TERM...Friday through Early Next Week. Northwest flow will continue through Friday with the exit of the mid- week system, but with a quick rebound in H5 heights, temperature recovery should be quick through the weekend. During this time, yet another deepening closed low will be pushing south from the Aleutians. While this type of low has been easily trekking southward this season, resulting in the several winter events for the region, the evolution of this one is a bit more unclear. While this low is dropping south, high pressure will be developing at the same time across Mexico, strengthening a ridge across the southern CONUS and blocking the southward motion of the closed low. This should serve to keep the low up in the Pacific NW as it gets cutoff from the polar vortex to the north. At this point, the EC/GEFS slowly weaken this low through the first half of next week with gradually less breezy days and less precip potential. With the current progged positioning of this low (which is an area of high variance and low certainty), this would keep southern Nevada mostly dry, but still below average for temps. PoPs for the long term are mostly confined to the Sierra and northernmost tier of our forecast area. However, if this tug of war between the low to the north and the high to the south wobbles, so will these possibilities. && .AVIATION...For Harry Reid...South-southwest will gust 20-30kts until rain showers and lower CIGS move in around 11z. Rain is expected to be light most of the time, but there could be periods of moderate rain that lower CIGS to 2500 feet although confidence is low. The main band of rain exits the valley after 17z, but rain showers are possible through the evening hours. A cold front will bring gusty northwest winds to the valley between 01z and 05z, with a light rain-snow mix possible behind the front. Clearing is expected after midnight tonight although gusty north winds will continue through much of the day. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...Gusty south-southwest winds will continue in the Las Vegas valley and in the Colorado River Valley until a cold front passes through tonight and turns winds to the north. Westerly winds will continue at KDAG. Southeast winds turn to the north at KBIH later this morning with gusts to around 35kts this afternoon. Light snow and low CIGS will continue at KBIH through mid morning before clearing out. Light rain is expected to move into KDAG by 13z and continue through the morning. Shower activity will move into the KIFP and KEED areas by 16z this morning and continue through the afternoon before clearing in the evening. CIGs down to 2500-4000 feet are expected in areas that receive rain. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Winter conditions are expected through tonight with low elevation snow accumulations possible. Spotters are encouraged to report significant snow accumulations or reductions in visibility. && SHORT TERM...Morgan LONG TERM...TB3 AVIATION...Salmen 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 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Snow on Mountain Pass caused the closure of I-15 from Primm to Baker.
Highway 190 was closed from Highway 136 to Panamint Valley Road due to snow.
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, March 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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1089485, 1089486.