A strong low pressure system passing to the east brought high northerly winds to southern Nevada.
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The episode as NWS VEF wrote it up.
A strong low pressure system passing to the east brought high northerly winds to southern Nevada.
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 14, 2:05 AM PST, 6 hours 55 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 205 AM PST Tue Feb 14 2023 .SYNOPSIS...A windy and cold weather system will drop into the region today spreading shower activity across southern Nevada and Northwest Arizona. Accumulating snow can be expected above 4000 feet in Mohave County and in the more mountainous terrain elsewhere. Cold weather will settle in for the remainder of the week with temperatures slowly moderating over the weekend. && .SHORT TERM...Through Wednesday night. Our next weather maker is currently digging southward over the interior Pacific Northwest and will make a nosedive southward across the Great Basin through the day today. Pressure gradients have already begun to tighten and winds across the Western Mojave Desert have responded with observations near KDAG gusting in the 40-50 mph range for the past several hours. While the wind speeds may flux up and down through the night, gradients will only increase further approaching sunrise - so I went ahead and moved forward the start time of the High Wind Warning to be effective immediately across the San Bernardino County Deserts. Elsewhere, no changes were made to the wind headlines with strongest winds expected to hold off until after sunrise. As the front drops through the region tomorrow, it will be accompanied by a band of shower activity and a sharp gradient of northerly winds heralding the arrival of the colder airmass. Winds with the frontal passage may locally gust over 50 mph, especially with any evaporative cooling effects the showers bring, enhancing the momentum transport to the surface. Meanwhile, sharply cooling air will allow for snow levels to fall to near valley floors as the back edge of shower activity moves through. These showers are mainly expected across far southern Nevada and northwest Arizona, but could allow for a few snowflakes to be observed across parts of the Las Vegas Valley, and a light coat of 1-3" of snow in the Spring Mountains. Further east, the frontal precipitation band will be more cohesive and aided by increasing upslope of the Colorado Plateau. This will encourage heavier snowfall above 4000 feet across the Arizona Strip where a Winter Storm Warning remains in effect. Additional snow showers will be possible across central Mohave County and could bring some snow impacts to I-40 near Fort Rock. With some marginal instability in place and plenty of dynamic forcing with the very cold trough dropping south, some localized banded snowfall could result in small but intense bands of snow that could drop visibilities suddenly and result in rapid snow accumulations. Be advised of this possibility if traveling in Mohave County today, particularly east of Kingman. Shower activity will shift east by this evening, with cold and blustery conditions settling in overnight and continuing into Wednesday. Temperatures in this post frontal airmass will average 10-12 degrees below mid-February normals. .LONG TERM...Thursday through Monday. Thursday morning will start out quite cold, with relaxing pressure gradients and clearing skies aiding in radiational cooling overnight. This could allow for a hard freeze across central and southern Mohave county, especially given the potential for snow accumulations in some of the higher terrain. Given the potential, have gone ahead with a Hard Freeze Watch for parts of Mohave County around the Kingman area for Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Otherwise, Thursday will bring a break in the action as a progressive shortwave ridge slides overhead and winds relax. As noted by previous shifts, any warming associated with the ridge will likely be at the higher elevations, while cold air remains trapped in the valleys. Increasing southerly winds aloft on Friday ahead of low pressure nearing the central California coast will help mix out the valleys a bit, but despite a few degrees of warming, temperatures will be well below normal for mid February. Models still differ on where the incoming low will go over the weekend. Several perturbations keep it offshore through Sunday or even Monday, while others swing it inland over the Mojave Desert. The compromise solution favored by the NBM on this run takes it south of our CWA on a track similar to the one that passed by last weekend. This results in slight chance PoPs across the southern half or so of the CWA Saturday and Sunday, followed by a drying trend Monday as the low departs to the east. If this solution pans out, temperatures would also climb nearly to normal. Alternative scenarios include the low tracking over the Mojave Desert, which would bring much colder temperatures along with rain and snow showers, and the low meandering offshore for days, which would bring mostly dry weather with temperatures rising to near normal. && .AVIATION...For Harry Reid...Southerly winds this morning will turn to the west and then northwest by noon as a cold front moves through the valley. Speeds will increase behind the front with gusts to 35kts possible into the early evening. Ceilings will lower to around 5kft this morning, and a few isolated showers are possible after 20Z. Gusty winds to 30kts will continue overnight into Wednesday morning, although improving skies are likely after 08Z. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...A cold front moving across the area will result in gusty west-to-north winds across the region. The strongest winds will occur across the western Mojave Desert, with KDAG seeing gusts of 40-50kts this morning and afternoon. Winds will be slightly lower at KBIH, KEED, KIFP, and Vegas area TAF sites, although a few gusts to 40kts will be possible. Scattered rain or snow showers will accompany the front resulting in decreased ceilings of 3 to 5 kft and mountain obscuration. Conditions will improve tonight at KDAG while winds remain elevated at all other sites into Wednesday morning. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && SHORT TERM...Outler LONG TERM...Morgan AVIATION...Planz 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 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
These gusts occurred 44 miles ENE of Beatty.
The peak wind gust occurred at the North Las Vegas (KVGT) ASOS. Power outages occurred in North Las Vegas, and a big rig jackknifed on I-15, but it was not confirmed whether either was wind-related.
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, 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: 1083253, 1083254.