A warmer storm brought more rain, high elevation snow, and gusty southwesterly winds late Tuesday into Wednesday. An upper-level low moving into the Pacific Northwest flattened a persistent ridge on Tuesday afternoon, and allowed warmer subtropical moisture to be transported into our region with the increased more zonally directed westerly flow aloft.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 REV wrote it up.
A warmer storm brought more rain, high elevation snow, and gusty southwesterly winds late Tuesday into Wednesday. An upper-level low moving into the Pacific Northwest flattened a persistent ridge on Tuesday afternoon, and allowed warmer subtropical moisture to be transported into our region with the increased more zonally directed westerly flow aloft. Higher ridge level winds increased late Tuesday morning as an upper jet oriented over the region bringing peak overnight wind gusts to around 80-100 mph. Ridge winds remained elevated through Wednesday, with breezy SW winds mixing down to valleys by Wednesday afternoon. The main precipitation band moved into the region by Tuesday PM wrapping up by late Wednesday AM. Snow levels remained a bit higher than previous storms due to the subtropical tap. Snow levels will hovered between 8000-8500 feet during the main precipitation event, briefly topping upwards to 9000 feet at times. Snow accumulations were confined to the high Sierra, with predicted storm totals ranging 2-6 inches above 8000 feet. In terms of liquid totals, the highest values expected stayed along the Sierra crest, generally between 0.75-1 inches. A sharp gradient in liquid precipitation persisted east of the crest due to stronger rain shadowing with 0.25-0.5 inches generally west of US-395 and trace-0.1 inch east of Highway 395.
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 Jan 16, 1:57 PM PST, 2 hours 53 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Reno NV
157 PM PST Tue Jan 16 2024
.SYNOPSIS...
A warm Pacific storm moving through today into Wednesday brings
periods of rain, high elevation snow, and gusty winds. Drier and
milder conditions resume late Wednesday into Friday before storm
potential returns for the weekend. Confidence is increasing for an
active pattern to set up for the weekend into next week with several
storms possible.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
Quick-moving storm on track to bring a burst of strong winds, high
elevation snow, and rains tonight into Wednesday morning. Main
change today was a signal for stronger wind potential, so we've
issued a Lake Wind Advisory for Lake Tahoe and a Wind Advisory for
the Eastern Sierra in Mono county.
WINDS: Ridge winds are already increasing today ahead of the quick-
moving storm with several mountain locations reporting wind gusts in
the 45 to 55 mph range. Winds will continue to ramp up as a
relatively strong westerly jet pushes across the Sierra and western
Nevada between 10pm tonight and 4am Wednesday morning. Ridge winds
are still anticipated to peak between 60-80+mph, but some stronger
winds may mix down to portions of the Highway 395/Interstate 580
corridor. There is a 25% chance of wind gusts exceeding 60 mph near
Reno/Carson and a 40-60% chance for Highway 395 in the eastern
Sierra tonight into early Wednesday.
SNOW/RAIN: This storm still appears to be on the warmer end of the
spectrum with projected snow levels running around 6500-8000 feet at
the beginning of the storm. Precipitation is already pushing across
northern CA early this afternoon and will continue to progress
eastward into northeastern CA and the Sierra with the bulk of the
rain/snow occurring late this evening through early Wednesday.
Generally snow totals will be light compared to recent storms with 2-
6 inches of heavy/wet snow possible above 8000 feet, especially for
areas west and along the Sierra crest. Snow levels gradually drop
overnight into Wednesday morning to near 6500-7000 feet with a
handful of simulations are showing a 25% chance for 1-3" of snow
down to 5000-5500'. There is also the possibility in the coldest
valleys for some periods of freezing rain, especially if the winds
today don't mix out those deeper, trapped inversions. Plan on slick
driving conditions in the Sierra and northeastern CA. Wet roads are
still tricky if you're driving too fast!
Quiet End of the Week: Most of the precipitation will be done by
10am on Wednesday with only a handful of lingering light showers
possible for northern Lassen county. Otherwise, high pressure
saunters into the region bringing drier conditions for Thursday into
midday Friday. Temperatures stay fairly mild through the week with
upper 40s to low 50s for western Nevada valleys, and no dramatic
downturns in overnight lows for now.
Active Weather Returns: Ensemble clusters are highlighting a period
of more active weather to begin this weekend and potentially
continuing into much of next week. The next storm looks to arrive
this weekend with the storm door (zonal flow) remaining open across
the North Pacific and into the West for next week.
Lindaman
&&
.AVIATION...
* A quick-moving, mild storm is pushing into the region bringing an
uptick in westerly flow aloft and precipitation to the Sierra and
northeast CA starting after 00z this afternoon.
* WINDS: FL100 winds look to peak around 40-50 kts between 9-12z
Wednesday resulting in LLWS and turbulence impacts along and
east of the Sierra crest. KMMH has the highest potential of
experiencing strong surface winds with a 40% chance of gusts
over 50kts between 9z to 15z Wednesday. KTRK and KTVL will also
be quite windy, but gusts in the 35-45kt range. KRNO, KMEV,
KCXP surface wind gusts will be in the 25-35kt range.
* PRECIPITATION: Precipitation begins at 0z Wednesday in the Sierra
and will persist overnight through 17z. A mix of rain/snow will be
possible for all Sierra terminals for much of the event, with up
to 1-2" of heavy/wet snow possible by early Wednesday morning.
Very little spillover into western NV is forecast, and with the
higher snow levels there should only be light rain showers for the
Nevada terminals.
* Drier, and less windy conditions resume by Thursday with high
pressure building in across the Sierra and western Nevada.
Lindaman
&&
.AVALANCHE...
Rain-on-snow and strong ridge-level winds continue to be the biggest
avalanche weather impacts with our arriving storm through tomorrow
morning.
* Snow Levels: Begin around 8000-8500 feet with precipitation this
afternoon, and are projected to drop to 6500-7000 feet by early
Wednesday morning. Areas between 7000-8000 feet are most likely to
see rain-on-snow impacts.
* Snow Ratio: Heavy, wet snow (6-8:1) becoming lighter (8-10:1) by
the Wednesday morning.
* SWE: Will be light for Sierra standards, with substantial
shadowing in the Tahoe Basin/Mono County. Along the Sierra crest,
0.75-1.25". For the Tahoe Basin, 0.5-0.75" on the west side of the
lake, dropping to 0.1-0.25" on the east side of the lake.
* Winds: South-southwesterly winds with gusts to 60-80 mph at ridge
levels and 40-60 mph along mid-slopes this afternoon into early
Wednesday morning.
Whitlam/Lindaman
&&
.REV Watches/Warnings/Advisories...
NV...Lake Wind Advisory from 7 PM this evening to 10 AM PST Wednesday
NVZ002.
CA...Lake Wind Advisory from 7 PM this evening to 10 AM PST Wednesday
CAZ072.
Wind Advisory from 7 PM this evening to 10 AM PST Wednesday
CAZ073.
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Mesonet station (SLIDE-DRI) located 0.9 mi E of Mount Rose Summit reported a peak wind gust of 84 mph.
Mesonet station (WASNV-NV DOT)) located 3.2 mi S of Washoe City, NV, and mesonet station (SRNNV-Lakeview ) located 3.7 mi NW of Lakeview, NV, both reported peak wind gusts of 69 mph.
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, January 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: 1165995, 1165994.