Cold low pressure digging down the West Coast brought isolated high winds to the Spring Mountains.
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The episode as NWS VEF wrote it up.
Cold low pressure digging down the West Coast brought isolated high winds to the Spring Mountains.
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 27, 8:49 PM PST, 4 hours 1 minute earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 849 PM PST Mon Feb 27 2023 .SYNOPSIS...Active weather pattern will continue as a series of storm systems move through the area through midweek. Gusty winds can be expected each day through Wednesday before a cold storm system arrives Wednesday with rain and low elevation snow chances. Cold air will linger through the end of the week with temperatures slowly moderating by the weekend. && .UPDATE... Current radar and satellite imagery show showers in the Eastern Sierra and portions of the Owens Valley, as well as the Spring Mountains and eastern Lincoln County. This light showery activity will continue in the Eastern Sierra Slopes and portions of Lincoln County into the early hours of Tuesday morning. Gusty southwesterly winds will also continue through the early hours of Tuesday morning for the Mojave Desert, southern Nevada, and the Arizona Strip. We will see a brief lull in winds Tuesday morning before they ramp back up in the afternoon/evening. The most impactful weather remains on tap for Wednesday as the bulk of the system moves through the area, producing more substantial precipitation and widespread gusty winds. Stessman && .SHORT TERM...through Wednesday night. This afternoons satellite imagery depicts a deep closed system encompassing much of the West Coast spreading rain and mountain snow across much of coastal California and ongoing heavy snow in the Sierra. Most of the moisture with this storm system is being intercepted by the Sierra with fairly limited precipitation spilling over the terrain. However, fairly strong southwesterly flow aloft acting on some limited moisture across the deserts will allow for some upslope enhanced precipitation across the Spring Mountains and Sheep Range through this evening. In fact, webcams from Lee Canyon do indicate some light snow showers ongoing at this hour, with heavier snowfall rates expected later this evening as primary moisture band moves through. Aside from precipitation chances, the more widespread risk through the rest of the day will be gusty winds which continues to ramp up as pressure gradients tighten over the region. Thus far, wind gusts exceeding 40 mph have been fairly limited, but suspect they will increase in coverage through the evening as suggested by high resolution guidance. Winds will relax a bit overnight and into Tuesday morning but will redevelop by Tuesday afternoon as the trough over the PacNW reloads and begins to sag southward into the Great Basin. With a 100+ knot mid level jet taking aim at the Western Mojave Desert on the backside of the approaching low. Latest guidance continues to trend stronger with surface winds across the Western Deserts near Barstow and Twentynine Palms, and have gone ahead and issued a High Wind Warning for those areas tomorrow afternoon through Wednesday evening in coordination with the Phoenix and San Diego offices. Finally, with the low dropping southward, it will close off as a ~534dm closed contour dragging across the Colorado River Valley. This is quite a cold airmass for the first day of meteorological Spring, and will be accompanied by the potential for low elevation snow and more cold weather. Snow levels are projected to be in the 2500-3500 foot range for most of the precipitation activity, so winter weather impacts remain a concern for travel corridors in the region including I-40 near Mountain Pass and I-40 from Kingman and points eastward. Meanwhile, mountain locations such as the Spring Mountains remain on track to pick up significant additional snowfall adding to their already impressive snowpack. The current winter weather headlines remain in place and decisions on upgrades or expansions of the current winter headlines will take place tonight on the midnight shift. The low will track eastward Wednesday night into Thursday morning, with shower activity decreasing from west to east. .LONG TERM...Thursday through Monday. Dry but cool conditions will prevail through the remainder of the week with temperatures only slowly moderating. Greater warming is expected over the weekend as the flow becomes more west or southwesterly. However, snow will be creeping back into the Sierra as yet another atmospheric river takes aim at northern and central California. && .AVIATION...For Harry Reid...Gusty south-southwest winds today and tonight, with gusts up to 35 knots. Some uncertainty in the strength of winds after sunset, but expected to remain from the south- southwest at 12+ knots. Around midnight, greater confidence in wind speeds coming down to 10-12 knots from the southwest. Breezy conditions continue into tomorrow afternoon. FEW-SCT clouds aoa 6kft throughout the TAF period. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...For all the TAF sites except KBIH, south-southwest winds will prevail today and tonight. Strongest gusts expected at KDAG and the Las Vegas Valley sites, where gusts up to 35 knots are possible. In the Colorado River Valley, gusts are forecast to be around 20 knots. FEW-SCT mid-level clouds linger through the forecast period, with cloud bases between 6-10kft. For KBIH, off-and- on light snow will be possible this afternoon and evening as spillover tries to reach the valley floor. Highest confidence during the evening hours (00z-04z). CIGs around 3-5kft through midnight tonight, lowering to 2-3kft during precipitation. Breezy south- southeast winds expected, with gusts up to 25 knots possible this afternoon. Sky conditions improve in the early morning hours tomorrow.&& .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && DISCUSSION...Outler AVIATION...Woods 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.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
These gusts occurred 3 miles NE of Mount Charleston.
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: 1084291.