Strong low pressure digging down the West Coast brought strong to briefly high winds to the Owens Valley. The winds helped spread a short-lived wildfire.
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.
Strong low pressure digging down the West Coast brought strong to briefly high winds to the Owens Valley. The winds helped spread a short-lived wildfire.
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 Apr 3, 6:29 PM PST, 3 hours 48 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 729 PM PDT Wed Apr 3 2024 .SYNOPSIS...Dry and warm conditions today will give way to another storm system bringing widespread gusty winds to the region Thursday and sharply cooler temperatures with chances for showers and snow levels down to the valleys and deserts Friday. Cool and unsettled weather will persist through the weekend and early next week as an additional system drops down from the north. && .UPDATE...South to southeast surface winds did start to respond this afternoon to the approaching trough. Gusts of 25 to 35 mph were common in parts of Inyo, Esmeralda and Nye Counties. Gusts generally less than 25 mph elsewhere. For tomorrow, the tight pressure gradient and strong cold air advection will add another 20 to 30 mph to today's gusts. Current suite of wind headlines looks good. However, not convinced that there won't be gusts in excess high wind criteria of 58 mph in some part of Inyo County tomorrow. Will await the full 00Z model output before any upgrade would be down, and that determination will be made by the next shift. Don't see an need for an update at this time. && .PREV DISCUSSION...115 PM PDT Wed Apr 3 2024 .SHORT TERM...Tonight through Thursday Night. After a quiet evening, the weather pattern becomes more unsettled Thursday as a deepening upper level trough approaches the West Coast. Models have not changed significantly in the latest runs with continued high confidence for widespread impactful winds on Thursday. All model ensembles show high probabilities for impactful wind gusts across much of the Southwest US as a strengthening south to southwesterly jet and an increasing pressure gradient develops ahead of the main trough axis. Expecting winds to first increase in Inyo and the southern Great Basin Thursday morning then increasing across the rest of the area by Thursday afternoon. Tried to fine tune the forecast and impact potential a but as we enter the hi-res model domain. Investigated the potential for higher winds to funnel up the Owens Valley as the southerly jet ramps up Thursday afternoon. The NBM probabilities for wind gusts over 60 MPH are about 50%-60% int he Owens Valley, but other ensembles are not as robust with the wind potential or the probabilities. Synoptically, the stronger jet wont develop until a bit later in the day and a bit to the east of the Owens Valley, so held off on upgrading the Owens Valley to a High Wind Warning. Isolated gusts to 60 MPH are possible but widespread higher impacts due to winds from the current overall thinking are less certain. The other area of concern for higher impacts is the Western Mojave Desert where the stronger jet does eventually develop however it may not be until after sunset and the mixing will not be as efficient. Probabilities in this area for gusts over 60 MPH are also lower on the NBM and shorter lived. The High Wind Warning for Nye and Esmeralda counties looks good as this is where the strongest part of the jet will positioned Thursday afternoon. Difficult travel is expected Thursday, especially on east- west roadways as the south winds create a strong crosswind. Blowing dust may also cause travel restrictions on Thursday adding to the travel impacts. Other than the winds, minor impacts due to precipitation are possible Thursday during the day in the Sierra as the trough allows for sufficient upslope. Precipitation will then spread into the Southern Great Basin Thursday night. However, PWATs with this system are low and well below normal. Despite strong forcing, precipitation will be limited due to the amount of dry air moving into the region with the low. Temperatures Thursday afternoon will remain mild with near or slightly above normal high temperatures. As cold air filters in with the low moving inland, overnight lows Thursday into Friday will be much colder than the above normal low temperatures we have been experiencing. .LONG TERM...Friday through Tuesday. For early April, quite the anomalously deep low projected to be over California/Nevada early Friday morning. Worst of the winds should have passed but it will remain windy at least across San Bernardino, Clark and Mohave Counties throughout the day. Those winds will blowing around cold air making for a very blustery day. NBM temperature forecast for Friday has been consistent keeping highs between the mid 50s-mid 60s for the lower deserts and 30s and 40s for the mountains and south central Nevada. For Las Vegas, we have a good chance of breaking the record low maximum temperature of 58 degrees which was just set last year. With this powerful/cold of a system, snow levels will range between 2500 and 3500 feet. ECMWF EFI continues to hint at potentially anomalous snowfall for early April over Esmeralda County. We may need to hoist a winter weather headline in the next 24-36 hours. Elsewhere, not expecting a great deal of accumulation but with very low snow levels any bit of accumulation could produce slick conditions on I-15 over Mountain Pass and Highway 160 over Mountain Springs Summit. A few light flurries may remain across eastern Lincoln and northern Mohave Counties Saturday as the trough moves east through the Four Corner states. Temperatures will begin to recover but remain well below normal with west-northwest breezes generally running between 5- 15 mph. Region looks to be between weather features Sunday as yet another trough begins digging south down the West Coast. Greatest variance amongst the ensemble solutions from Sunday into early next week resolves around the position and/or timing of the trough. At any rate, the trough will probably temper any warm up and produce a slight chance of showers. && .AVIATION...For Harry Reid...Light easterly winds will gradually pick up as they swing around to the southwest this afternoon. While winds are shifting around to the southwest it is possible that a rogue southeasterly wind gust may make it to the terminal area later this afternoon. Should this happen these gusts would be around 15 to 20 knots in magnitude. 8 to 12 knot southwesterly winds will continue through the overnight hours with 25 to 35 knot southwesterly wind gusts picking up Thursday morning and continuing through the afternoon. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...KDAG will favor a westerly direction through tomorrow evening. 8 to 15 knot westerly winds will pick up later this evening with 20 to 30 knot wind gusts expected through the overnight period. KHND will favor a south-southwesterly direction through Thursday evening with 15 to 20 knot wind gusts picking up later this afternoon and continuing through the overnight period. Wind gusts will continue to ramp up on Thursday morning. Breezy southeasterly winds will decrease and swing around to a more north/northeasterly direction later this evening at KBIH. These northeasterly winds will shift back to the southeast during the overnight hours with 25 to 30 knot wind gusts picking up Thursday morning. Light and variable winds will pick up slightly and swing around to a more southerly direction later this afternoon at KEED, KIFP, and KVGT. Winds will continue to favor a more southerly direction through the overnight hours with 20 to 30 knot wind gusts picking up Thursday morning. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && UPDATE...Pierce SHORT TERM...Nickerson LONG TERM...Pierce AVIATION...Stessman For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: https://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
1 wildfire, 1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A wildfire near Cartago jumped Highway 395, closing the highway between mile markers 35 and 39, destroyed four structures, and injured one firefighter.
These gusts occurred 9 mi S of Lone Pine.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in California, April 2024
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: 1167155, 1167156.