An offshore low with AR moisture accompanying it, produced heavy snow across central Nevada as well as the Ruby Mountains.
Every event with a place to put it; 6 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.
An offshore low with AR moisture accompanying it, produced heavy snow across central Nevada as well as the Ruby 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 Elko, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 19, 2:59 AM PST, 5 hours 33 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Elko NV 259 AM PST Mon Feb 19 2024 .SYNOPSIS...The next storm system will bring widespread valley rain and mountain snow to much of the area today along with strong gusty south winds across much of central Nevada. Occasional lighter shower activity is expected Tuesday and Wednesday before drier conditions return for the latter half of the week. && .SHORT TERM...Today through Tuesday night An active weather day is in store for Nevada. A potent Pacific low pressure system will impact the western U.S. through Midweek. The main upper-low will ride up the Pacific Northwest coast through Wednesday while maintaining a southwest flow regime over Nevada through the same period. Thick cloud cover is already filtering into western Nevada with rain and snow similarly infiltrating the state through the day from west to east. A subtle short wave embedded within the broad southwest flow aloft will provide a favorable environment for some thunderstorm activity across southwest Nevada later today including Tonopah, extending into central Nevada. Chances for thunderstorms of 15-20% will extend from Tonopah to the southern portion of the Ruby Mountains. In addition, CAPE values of 200-400 J/Kg only support isolated thunderstorm activity. The trajectory of the low will continue to promote higher snow levels across the area with levels of around 8000 across northern Nye county to 6500 feet across northern Nevada. Impacts will be minimal from snow but higher passes could see snow. Temperatures above freezing today even at pass elevations will prevent significant impacts to roads. Winds will be another factor with this weather system. Gusty south winds concentrated over central Nevada are expected today. Although highest winds will still be in mountain ranges there are a few locations along US-50 that will see a greater than 50% of reaching or exceeding 45 mph. A wind advisory is in effect for the gusty winds through early this evening. Temperatures will be cool but still above normal for this time of year. Highs today will be in the 40s and lower 50s with lows tonight bottoming out in the lower 30s. Temperatures on Tuesday will be just a couple of degrees cooler with lows Tuesday similarly cooler in the upper 20s to lower 30s. .LONG TERM...Wednesday through Monday Wednesday will see the last in a series of shortwave troughs make its passage across the Silver state. This shortwave will be more central Nevada oriented with the highest probability of accumulating precipitation will be across the US-50 and US-6 corridors as POPs are forecast to be in the 70% to 90% range. Farther north POPs decrease to around 40% to 60%. Timing of this shortwave will see the bulk of the precipitation occur during the early to mid morning Wednesday with showers gradually diminishing through the evening from SW to NE. Amounts as far a liquid equivalent will be lighter than prior shortwaves with central NV seeing up to 0.30” and N NV seeing only up to 0.10” of water. The big difference will be the snow potential, as this will be the coolest of any of the other shortwave troughs, It means snow levels will be at a minimum across the state. For northern NV snow levels Early Wednesday will range from 4600 feet across W Humboldt county to 5500 feet over SE Elko county. This will put light snow possible across most, but not all valley floors. Downside is POPs will be lowest were the snow level is lowest, also that snow levels will rise during the daytime hours leading to only very light accumulations if any. Along the I-80 corridor, snow will run from a trace to 2” with the highest amounts along roadway summits. Higher elevation mountain ranges will see more snow with up to 6” possible for the Independence range and Ruby/E Humboldt range. Central NV snow levels will be higher at around 6000 feet, so road summits along US-50 and US-6 above 6500 feet could see up to 2” of snow with higher mountain ranges like the Snake range seeing up to a foot. Any lingering showers will be ending by Thursday morning, as weak upper ridging build in across the Silver State. Friday and Saturday model agreement is better with both the GFS and ECMWF showing weak ridging holding across the SW US meaning quiet weather for the start of the weekend. The next spat of active weather look to move across Nevada for Sunday afternoon as the GFS and ECMWF have a split trough with a northern and southern section, approach the west coast. A lead shortwave will be ejected into the SW flow aloft, models are still a bit uncertain from which section of the split trough this lead shortwave trough ejects from, so for now will keep POPs low at 20% to 40% for Sunday into Monday. Monday looks to be an interesting weather day as models hint at a return to winter as the split trough comes ashore. The southern warmer part makes landfall about 6 hours ahead of the northern colder part of the trough. However it looks for now that the northern part will have the greatest impact to NV weather as models having a high POPs running 60% to 80% for Monday afternoon, showing that model confidence is rather high for Day 8 and will be subject to change as the week progresses, also subject will be if that precipitation will fall as rain or snow, it is too soon to tell. Temperatures and Winds: Highs will range in the upper 30s to low 50s through the long term period with a cold front primed to move through Monday of the following week. Lows will not vary much as well, ranging in the low 20s to mid 30s, lows also trend cooler by the weekend. Winds across the Silver state will be out of the west, as upper systems transverse the region, at speeds up to 15 to 25 MPH with a few gusts up to 35 MPH possible. Winds Thursday through Sunday look to drop a bit, but remain out of the west but at speeds of 5 to 15 MPH with gusts up to 25 MPH possible. Monday winds look to pick up as the split troughs and cold fronts approach, winds will still be out of the W-SW but at speeds up to 20 to 30 MPH with gusts to 45 MPH possible. && .AVIATION...Flight conditions will gradually deteriorate today as a Pacific storm system impacts the region. Expanding rain and snow showers will begin across western Nevada this morning reaching eastern Nevada by late this afternoon. Snow levels will be high across the state so predominant precipitation type will be rain. In general, shower activity is expected to bring MVFR conditions, however periods of IFR CIGs and VIS are possible in any heavier rain or snow showers. Winds become gusty across central NV today, with southerly winds of 15 to 20kts gusting 20 to 30 kts at KTPH and KELY. Winds diminish into this evening, however the mix of rain and snow will linger across much of central NV and portions of northeastern NV into Wednesday. && .LKN Watches/Warnings/Advisories... Wind Advisory from 7 AM this morning to 7 PM PST this evening Northwestern Nye County...Southern Lander County and Southern Eureka County...White Pine County. && 93/98/96
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 heavy snow, 2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Station (TMBN2) Timber Mountain Raws, Elevation 9000 feet.
Station (MTHN2) Mather Raws, Elevation 9000 feet.
Eleven inches fell at site (DRBN2) Dorsey Basin Snotel, Elevation 7902 feet. This occurred between 9 pm on the 20th and 1 pm on the 21st.
Ten inches fell at site (DRKN2) Dry Creek Snotel, Elevation 6553 feet. This occurred between 12 am and 11 am on the 21st.
Eleven inches fell at site (HIMN2) Hole-In-Mountain Snotel, Elevation 8161 feet. This occurred between 8 pm on the 20th and 4 pm on the 21st.
Twelve inches fell at site (LCUN2) Lamoille Upper Snotel, Elevation 8050 feet. This occurred between 11 am on the 19th and 5 pm on the 21st.
Nine inches fell at site (BRCN2) Berry Creek Snotel, Elevation 9376 feet. This occurred between 1 pm on the 20th and 6 am on the 22nd.
Eight inches fell at site (CAVN2) Cave Mountain Snotel, Elevation 10,577 feet. This occurred between 9 pm on the 19th and 10 am on the 21st.
Eight inches fell at site (WDMN2) Ward Mountain Snotel, Elevation 9152 feet. This occurred between 12 pm on the 19th and 10 am on the 21st.
Ten inches fell at site (BCSN2) Big Creek Summit Snotel, Elevation 8684 feet. This occurred between 7 pm on the 19th and 11 pm on the 20th.
Nine inches fell at site (TJMN2) Toe Jam Snotel, Elevation 7690 feet. This occurred between 9 pm on the 20th and 10 pm on the 21st.
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, February 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: 1164596, 1164595, 1163366, 1163364, 1163363, 1163365.