A colder early Spring storm brought another round of winter-like conditions to the region with strong winds today and snow showers. Impacts to travel and recreation included blowing dust, lake wind advisories for stronger breezes and choppy conditions for area lakes, and aviation concerns.
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 REV wrote it up.
A colder early Spring storm brought another round of winter-like conditions to the region with strong winds today and snow showers. Impacts to travel and recreation included blowing dust, lake wind advisories for stronger breezes and choppy conditions for area lakes, and aviation concerns.
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 Apr 1, 2:01 AM PST, 11 hours 19 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Reno NV
301 AM PDT Sat Apr 1 2023
.SYNOPSIS...
Our next storm arrives with strong winds today and snow late
Sunday into Monday. Travel impacts are likely in the Sierra and
possible in Western Nevada early Monday morning. Snow showers and
chilly conditions Monday and Tuesday will give way to a drying and
warming trend the rest of next week.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
According to my fellow forecasters and the public, the consensus
across the region is that the time has come to unsubscribe from
winter. This former Midwesterner is even tired of the grey skies
and seemingly non-stop storm train we have been riding. It becomes
even more difficult when we have brief peeks into a spring-like
day or two, only to be shrouded by cold winds and incoming systems
once again. So in the interest of keeping morale high, let's get
our minds ready for this next and hopefully final episode of the
winter saga.
Let's start by talking temperatures for tomorrow, which will induce
some longing for warmth to stay. Highs over the Basin and Range will
skirt into the 60s, while leeside valleys will land in the 50s.
Even Sierra locations will feel decent in the 40s. However,
tomorrow afternoon will also bring increasing winds, arriving
first along and north of I-80 packing gusts up to 45 mph. Some NE
CA and NW NV locations could see convective snow showers during
the afternoon. Impacts to travel and recreation are to include
blowing dust, choppy lakes, and aviation concerns. Along with the
winds, clouds will filter in overhead, signaling the arrival of
the next system. These clouds will help us to hang onto some
daytime heating into the overnight hours, so lows will remain
above freezing for western Nevada valleys and dip into the 20s in
Sierra communities.
The warmish temperatures will try to hang on for Sunday afternoon,
only to be whisked away by northwesterly winds on Sunday evening. It
will be a noticeable difference in temperatures from the previous
night, with lower valleys struggling to reach mid 20s. It will also
feel colder with the increased breezes that will accompany the
system. Gusts along the ridges could reach 90+ mph and gusts at
valley floors of 45-55 mph. This sets us up for wind chills on
Monday that will feel like winter has been re-gifted to us yet
again as winds stay elevated through the day.
Snow will start to appear around NE CA Sunday night, with the
majority falling between then and Monday afternoon. High resolution
modeling is picking up on potential for snow showers to pop up on
Tuesday across NW NV, otherwise the activity will be moving off
to the east. Recent trends in the guidance have been for lowering
QPF totals, which translates to a drier system overall. We could
see 2- 6" around the Tahoe Basin with 6-10" along the Sierra
crest. The main swath of snow will materialize to the west of the
Tahoe Basin.
Now for the good part of the forecast... Wednesday we start to see a
return to warming temperatures. Some ensemble guidance hints toward
chances for snow showers through the end of the week, impacts are
expected to be limited. HRICH
&&
.AVIATION...
Winds will begin to amplify through the day today, with FL100 winds
around 30-40 kts by afternoon. This trend will continue Sunday
morning, with westerly gusts reaching up to 60 kts. LLWS and
turbulence will be issues through Sunday.
Snow showers are possible over northern California and northwestern
Nevada for Saturday, and this potential increases over these areas
for Sunday. This will introduce terrain obscuration concerns for
aviators over the region.
Sunday night, the next system will bring snow to Sierra terminals
and a rain/snow mix to valley terminals. The bulk of the
precipitation arrives Sunday night into Monday, with some showers
lingering into Tuesday.
HRICH
&&
.REV Watches/Warnings/Advisories...
NV...Lake Wind Advisory from 11 AM this morning to 8 PM PDT Sunday
for Lake Tahoe in NVZ002.
Wind Advisory from 11 AM to 11 PM PDT Sunday NVZ003.
Lake Wind Advisory from 8 AM this morning to 11 AM PDT Sunday
for Pyramid Lake in NVZ004.
Wind Advisory from 11 AM to 11 PM PDT Sunday NVZ004-005.
CA...Lake Wind Advisory from 11 AM this morning to 8 PM PDT Sunday
for Lake Tahoe in CAZ072.
Wind Advisory from 11 AM to 11 PM PDT Sunday CAZ073.
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Mesonet station (UP974) located 17.5 mi NE of Gerlach, NV, reported a peak wind gust of 65 mph.
Mesonet station (SLIDE) located 0.9 mi ESE of the Mount Rose Summit (DRI), mesonet station (SRSNV) located 1.3 mi NW of Lakeview, NV, and mesonet station (GLCNV) located 2.3 mi NE of Washoe City, NV, reported maximum wind gusts of 121 mph, 73 mph and 64 mph respectively.
Mesonet station (WLKNV) located 6.1 mi NW of Hawthorne, NV, reported a peak wind gust of 58 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, April 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: 1099356, 1099354, 1099355.