A low off the south-central coast of California, moved towards Nevada producing a few days of elevated winds aloft.
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 LKN wrote it up.
A low off the south-central coast of California, moved towards Nevada producing a few days of elevated winds aloft.
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 Elko, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 23, 2:29 AM PST, 6 hours 13 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Elko NV 229 AM PST Thu Feb 23 2023 .SYNOPSIS...Scattered light snow showers will continue this morning to this evening causing localized areas of snow accumulations up to an inch. A very potent and historic system is shaping up to hit central NV for Friday and Saturday. The worst of the winds and snow will be confined to northern Nye which can see very rare blizzard conditions. Southern Lander/Eureka and White Pine counties will also see gusty winds and snowfall but not to the degree of northern Nye. Hazardous to dangerous conditions will be present in central NV as this storm occurs Friday and Saturday. && .SHORT TERM...Today and Friday Thursday will see a low move southward just of the shore of western CONUS pushing some across the Sierras into NV. This moisture will cause scattered snow showers across the silver state this morning all the way to this evening. Widespread snow amounts will likely be light and under an inch, however localized areas where the showers are heavier can see over an inch of accumulation. Winds will be gusty across the silver state with average gusts in the 20s mph range. While not strong these winds will be sufficient to cause drifting to blowing snow. The snowfall and drifting/blowing snow can cause icy road conditions so use caution while traveling. Today will also be a cold day with highs mostly below freezing with only a few areas just breaching above freezing. Low will likewise be cold mainly in the tens to single digits. Friday will see the low position itself off the southern California coast and then slowly push inland for the next few days. This will be a highly favorable position to draw a large amount of pacific moisture into central NV. Central NV will serve as the focal point for the deformation zone associated with this system with it along with the ample moisture pivoting in place over central NV even as the system slowly drifts inland. This will create a favorable set up for a long duration snowfall event in central NV. To further add to the snowfall the moisture trajectory will pass from the lower valleys of southern NV to the higher valleys of central NV which will server to squeeze more snowfall out of this system. The deformation zone for this system will also serve as the main generator of the strong gusty winds that will occur across central NV and to a lesser extent northern NV. Now it best to contextualize this system before getting into snow amounts and impacts to truly show how historic this system can be for central NV and especially Tonopah. Thew amount of moisture being pushed into southern NV is in the top 10% for such events. This is also compounded that just southward the moisture will in fact be all time high amount which could easily make it way into central NV as well. That means the moisture through this event will be far higher than is typical and could even be the highest seen for this time of year. The overall agreement amongst the models is that a high amount of snowfall will take place with the outliers favoring even higher amount with few favoring low amounts which further lends credence this will be a exceptional event. This system will last unbroken from Friday and Saturday but this part of the discussion will only look at Friday. Snow amounts for Friday alone are likely to be 7 to 9 inches for Tonopah, 2 to 6 inches along US-6, and 1 to 4 inches along US-50. The mountains can see far higher amounts of 1 to 2 feet. The water amounts within that snow is likely to be 0.25 to 0.5 inches for the valleys and 1 to 2 inches for the mountains. To put this in perspective the current records for snowfall in Tonopah during this time is only 3 inches. This storm would represent upwards of 3 times the record snow amounts. In fact this amount of snow would compare as above average for annual snowfall amounts for tonopah. This show the obscene amount of snow expected and the historic nature of the amounts. To compound the snowfall will be the strong gusty winds across central NV. These winds will likely be sustained in the 20s to 30s mph range with gusts in the 50s mph range for northern Nye. Southern Lander/Eureka and White Pine will see weaker winds with gusts mainly in the 30s to low 40s mph range. These strong winds will cause blowing and drifting of the snow that can be severe. Blizzard conditions are very likely around Tonopah and northwestern Nye where the snowfall and winds are strongest. Blizzard conditions are very rarely seen in northern Nye as it is one of the driest areas in the USA further lending to the historic nature of this system. Impacts from this system will be substantial especially for northern Nye. Roads will be icy and very difficult if not impossible to travel especially in NW Nye where Blizzard and white out conditions can occur. Due to the expected impacts A Blizzard warning is valid for NW Nye during the late morning to early Saturday morning. Once the winds weaken this reverts to a Winter Storm Warning that will then last through the rest of Saturday for NW Nye. For NE Nye a Winter Storm Warning will last from late Friday morning through all of Saturday. For souther Lander/Eureka a Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for late Friday morning to the end of Friday as this area will see lighter winds and less snowfall with overall less impacts. It would be best to not travel during this storm if you have to then use extreme caution as the is dangerous system. .LONG TERM...Saturday through next Thursday Active weather looks to continue as a series of upper troughs will affect NE Nevada through next week. Saturday through Sunday a strong upper level low will be off point Conception, before moving across southern California into Arizona. Meanwhile southerly flow aloft will focus a moisture plume into central NV enhancing precipitation that will be already underway along and south of the US-50 corridor, and centered along the US-6 corridor. A cold front will be in place to act as a lifting mechanism when the upper level dynamics move in aloft, as well as a strong pressure gradient to drive strong winds aloft and at the surface. Given the setup, models have been trending toward the potential for a significant winter storm for Central Nevada, with Northern Nye County seeing the greatest chances for snow accumulations. Estimated snow totals run from 2” to 8” in the valleys to 8” to 15” plus for the mountains. With this potential, a Winter Storm Watch is in effect for NW Nye County starting Friday afternoon through Sunday, this Watch may be expanded should model trends continue. As this upper low ejects east Sunday night, all eye shift toward another upper level trough that will be digging south out of the gulf of Alaska Monday, and will begin to influence Nevada Tuesday through Thursday. Models continue to have slight differences with the strength of the trough, how far south it digs, and the timing of when it moves through. Models agree however that precipitation will be in the form of snow and that NE Nevada will see several round of snow for the Tuesday through Thursday time frame, although due to the model ambiguity, confidence is to low to estimate any potential accumulations at this time. Temperature wise this pattern is favorable for below normal temperatures to continue through the forecast period with afternoon high ranging from the middle 20s to middle 30s, and overnight lows dropping into the single digits to middle teens. && .AVIATION...SHSN continues to diminish across the area. Primarily VFR conditions by early morning. However, sufficient instability across the region will allow convective snow showers to again develop Thursday afternoon, very similar to Wednesday. Expect occasional IFR conditions with the heavier snow showers that move over airport locations. These snow showers will affect all sites but KTPH has the lowest chance (10% or less) for snow showers. BKN to OVC mid and upper-level cloud cover will remain over much of the state through Thursday with occasional lower ceilings as SHSN develop Thursday. && .LKN Watches/Warnings/Advisories... Winter Weather Advisory from 10 AM Friday to 4 AM PST Saturday Southern Lander County and Southern Eureka County. Blizzard Warning from 10 AM Friday to 4 AM PST Saturday Northwestern Nye County. Winter Storm Warning from 4 AM Saturday to 4 AM PST Sunday Northwestern Nye County. Winter Storm Warning from 10 AM Friday to 4 AM PST Sunday Northeastern Nye County. && 99/93/98
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Station (ALRN2) Antelope Lake Raws, Elevation 5460 feet.
Station (TMBN2) Timber Mountain, Elevation 9000 feet.
Station (TMBN2) Timber Mountain, Elevation 9000 feet.
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: 1075787, 1075788, 1075789.