Moderate stream north of mid-level monsoonal moisture coupled with instability and daytime heating enabled a 40-60% chance for thunderstorms during this brief period. Storms initiated over Mono County afternoon of the 2nd and worked their way north into northeast CA into the evening.
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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.
Moderate stream north of mid-level monsoonal moisture coupled with instability and daytime heating enabled a 40-60% chance for thunderstorms during this brief period. Storms initiated over Mono County afternoon of the 2nd and worked their way north into northeast CA into the evening. There was a 40% chance of nocturnal thunderstorms across far western NV and northeast CA. Storms were projected to have the potential to produce localized flash flooding under stronger, training storm cores.
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 Aug 2, 1:13 PM PST, 5 hours 58 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Reno NV 213 PM PDT Fri Aug 2 2024 .SYNOPSIS... * Shower and thunderstorm chances increase this afternoon into Saturday, with a few overnight storms possible. * Smoke from ongoing wildfires will impact areas mainly north of I-80 at times through this weekend. * After slight cooling Saturday, above average temperatures return Sunday through next week. && .DISCUSSION... THUNDERSTORMS TODAY THROUGH THIS WEEKEND: * An upper level shortwave moving northward from southern California into Oregon will bring shower and thunderstorm chances (30-60%) this afternoon through Saturday. Moisture will increase with PW values between 0.80 and 1.10", with surface dew points increasing into the 40s to near 50 degrees. Despite this increase in moisture, residual dryness in the sub-cloud layer and relatively fast storm motions of 20-30 mph will keep the possibility of isolated dry lightning strikes. This afternoon, storms are expected to initiate over Mono-Mineral counties and move northwest into the Tahoe basin and parts of western NV mainly south of US-50. Upper level forcing and elevated instability with the northward moving shortwave will allow for formation of showers with embedded lightning overnight into early Saturday morning in similar areas of the Sierra and western NV south of US-50. * Then by early Saturday afternoon, another round of storms is projected to form near the Sierra and spread into western NV by mid-late afternoon, bringing the best chance for precip for the upcoming week in the main urban areas including Reno/Sparks- Carson City. An additional focus for thunderstorms Saturday afternoon will set up over northeast CA-far northwest NV, with potential for a few stronger and more organized cells in these areas due to enhanced forcing associated with the ejecting shortwave. These storms are expected to exit northeast CA/western NV by mid-late Saturday evening. * Other than a small 10-20% chance of storms Sunday afternoon in Mono-Mineral-southern Lyon counties, the thunder risk drops to 10% or less for much of next week. Some of the medium range guidance indicates potential for isolated storms returning later next week for Mono-Mineral counties, but confidence is low due to variations in the upper level ridge/trough pattern presented by the ensemble data over these areas. SMOKE AND HAZE: * Smoke and haze from the Park Fire will continue to affect northeast California and western Nevada into the weekend, although many areas have seen some improvement in air quality today as winds over the fire were directing smoke more northward into north central CA. HRRR smoke model guidance is showing some west winds returning to the fire later today, so smoke could return to parts of northeast CA/northwest-west central NV tonight-Saturday AM. * The increased precip chances and southeast winds ahead of the shortwave passage could provide a temporary break in additional smoke reaching these areas during the day Saturday, before a SW-W flow returns Saturday evening and Sunday which would increase the risk of smoke from the Park Fire returning to similar parts of northeast CA/northwest-west central NV. ABOVE AVERAGE TEMPERATURES SUNDAY ONWARD: * Saturday will be a few degrees cooler than recent days due to increased cloud cover along with thunderstorm chances. Then as the upper level ridge rebuilds over the Four Corners region and extends westward across much of the Great Basin, we'll see temperatures warm up to the upper 90s-near 100 degrees in western NV valleys from Sunday through much of next week, about 3-6 degrees above early August averages with moderate HeatRisk prevailing. * These temperatures may edge slightly downward by later next week, as the majority of the longer range ensemble guidance shows the western extent of the ridge eroding in response to a bit more troughing over the Pacific NW and far northern CA. MJD && .AVIATION... * Scattered showers and t-storms develop in the eastern Sierra and western NV mainly south of US-50 this afternoon and evening, with another round overnight into Saturday AM in similar areas. A few storms could edge northward across the Tahoe basin and parts of northeast CA from these two periods of convective activity, with most cells moving northwest around 20-25 kts. * Showers and a 10-15% chance of storms Saturday morning will increase Saturday afternoon. Best chances (40-60% chance) will be across northwest-far western NV and northeast CA with storms pushing off the Sierra by mid afternoon, as south-southwest flow increases. * Short periods of MVFR/IFR conditions from brief heavy rain and/or small hail, lightning, and gusty winds to 30-35 kts are all possible with stronger cells today through Saturday. * Density altitude impacts are possible again this afternoon and Sunday for western NV terminals with highs near 100 degrees, but should ease Saturday when temperatures dip several degrees due to increased cloud cover and shower/thunder chances. MJD && .FIRE WEATHER... * T-storm threat increases this afternoon through Saturday (30-60% chance) with a majority of storms capable of producing wetting rainfall. Showers with isolated embedded lightning are also expected to develop late tonight into Saturday morning for the eastern Sierra and western NV mainly south of US-50. * Some storms will be capable of heavy rainfall, especially if cells anchor on the terrain or train over the same areas. At the same time, storm motions will be relatively quick (20-30 mph), shifting from a northwest motion to mainly north-northeast by Saturday afternoon. This brings the potential for new lightning fire ignitions outside of the main precipitation cores. Gusty outflow winds up to 40 mph are also in the mix, with stronger gusts to 50 mph possible with Saturday's storms especially in far northeast CA-northwest NV. MJD && .REV Watches/Warnings/Advisories... NV...None. CA...None. &&
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind, 1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
Mesonet station (WASNV-Washoe City-NV DOT)) located 3.2 mi S of Washoe City, NV, reported a peak wind gust of 65 mph.
A mesonet station (FOXN2-Fox Mountain) located 27.0 mi NNW of Gerlach, NV, and a mesonet station (JSPN2-Juniper Springs) located 36.0 mi S of Vya, NV, reported total rainfall amounts of 0.58 and 0.84 inches respectively.
An ASOS (KLOL-Lovelock) located 9.0 mi SSW of Lovelock, NV, and a mesonet station (TORNV-Trinity Junction-NV DOT)) located 9.8 mi NNE of Trinity Junction, NV, reported peak wind gusts of 58 mph, and 61 mph respectively.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, August 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: 1211217, 1211219, 1211218.