The storm that arrived at the end of March continued through the first two days of April, bringing an additional 6-12 of snow above 7000 feet around the Tahoe basin, with spotty light rain across parts of northwest NV. High winds were the main impact for far western NV and around the Tahoe basin for April 1-2, with peak gusts of 60-95 mph, and Sierra ridge gusts up to 135 mph.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 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.
The storm that arrived at the end of March continued through the first two days of April, bringing an additional 6-12 of snow above 7000 feet around the Tahoe basin, with spotty light rain across parts of northwest NV. High winds were the main impact for far western NV and around the Tahoe basin for April 1-2, with peak gusts of 60-95 mph, and Sierra ridge gusts up to 135 mph. A 78 mph gust at Reno Airport on the 1st was one of the strongest gusts (tied for 6th) measured in the airport’s history.
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 Apr 1, 1:14 AM PST, 2 hours 46 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Reno NV
214 AM PDT Wed Apr 1 2026
.KEY MESSAGES...
* Snow showers above 6000 feet and valley rain today, with
falling snow levels Thursday morning behind a cold front.
* Wednesday into Thursday will feature a colder air mass and
strong downsloping winds that will create travel impacts for
land, air, and water.
* The end of the week into the weekend will see a return of warmer
temperatures and lighter winds.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
Radar continues to show isolated to scattered light valley rain
and mountain snow early this morning. Activity has decreased from
earlier tonight, but it is expected to resume later today after
sunrise with the approach of the next system. Snow levels dropped
quicker than expected last night. So, we are keeping lower snow
levels to compensate for that change with the next system this
afternoon. Furthermore, snow showers are slowly ending over Mono
county, so we are expecting to let that Winter Weather Advisory
expire at 5 AM.
A more potent upper-level trough moves through the Intermountain
West this afternoon. This system will usher in a significantly
colder air mass and a rapidly tightening of the pressure gradient
across the region. Strong to potentially damaging downsloping
winds will develop this afternoon. The High Wind Warning for
portions of far western NV, Mono and NE CA remains in effect from
2 PM this afternoon to 11 AM Thursday. Wind Advisories are also
in effect for the rest of western NV and the Surprise Valley. NBM
guidance and several models show SW winds increasing rapidly
through the afternoon, with gusts up to 50-60 mph possible in
valley locations, 60-80+ mph in wind-prone areas and over 100 mph
over Sierra ridges. Blowing dust is anticipated across the Basin
and Range, and Mineral county during the afternoon and early
evening hours as strong winds cross dry lake beds. Waves of 1-5 ft
and 1 to 6 ft are also possible for Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe,
respectively.
Showers will continue through Thursday morning with snow levels
generally remaining between 6000-7000 ft in the Sierra,
potentially lower down to 5500 ft. Tonight, as the colder air
filters in, snow levels will plummet gradually to valley floors.
Snow accumulations of 1-4 inches is possible for Sierra
communities, with 6-12 inches above 7000 ft with isolated portions
of the Sierra crest up to 20 inches. Up to 1 inch of snow is
possible in western Nevada. NE CA could see snow levels drop to
the valley floor tonight, with up to 1-3 inches of accumulation.
These accumulations may lead to travel delays on Thursday morning
for the Reno-Sparks-Carson metro areas.
On Thursday morning, lingering snow showers are expected in the
Sierra, NE CA and portions of western NV, tapering off by the
afternoon. Winds will remain strong through mid-morning,
especially along the Sierra Front and in wind-prone areas, before
diminishing through the late morning and afternoon. Temperatures
will be significantly colder, with highs only reaching the 40s and
50s across the region. Thursday night will be the coldest of the
period, with lows dropping into the teens and 20s for the Sierra
and higher valleys, and 20s-30s for lower valleys.
By Friday, a high pressure area begins to build over the Western
US, leading to a rapid warming and drying trend. Temperatures
will rebound nicely, with highs in the 50s and low 60s. Overnight
lows Friday night will still be quite cold, in the 20s and 30s for
most areas, but a few degrees warmer than Thursday night.
This weekend into next week the weather pattern is dominated by
the aforementioned ridge. This will lead to a significant warming
and drying trend for this period with well above (10-20F degrees)
normal temperatures. A strong upper low may approach the PacNW by
Tuesday, potentially increasing precipitation chances for the
Sierra and NE CA by Tuesday afternoon. Thus, there are low chances
of showers, below 30%, starting on Tuesday afternoon.
-HC
&&
.AVIATION...
* SHRA/SHRASN will continue across KTVL and KTRK today, with
periods of spillover SHRA into KRNO/KCXP/KMEV. Intermittent
periods of showers will also appear over KMMH today. Amounts
will be light for KRNO/KMEV/KCXP/KMMH while KTVL/KTRK could
accumulate 0.5"- 1.00" of liquid water.
* Increasing westerly winds will become strong gusts this
afternoon into Thursday, bringing more LLWS and turbulence with
FL100 winds around 75-80 kts, mixing gusts of up to 40 kts to
leeside valley terminals KRNO/KMEV/KCXP from 21Z through 15Z
Thursday.
-HRICH/HC
&&
.AVALANCHE...
One more system will bring rain and snow chances to all avalanche
center terrain through Thursday.
Main changes from yesterday are lower snow levels that have led
to higher amounts of snow, especially for areas around the Tahoe
Basin.
Wednesday - Thursday: Snow levels start out around 6-6.5 kft
before rising slightly to 6.5-7.5 kft by sunset. As the cold air
moves in, snow levels plummet below 5 kft by sunrise for the Tahoe
Basin and by mid-morning for Mono county. Snowfall totals of
4-12" with locally higher (up to 20") in far northern reaches of
SAC terrain. Otherwise, 4-10" for BAC terrain with 2-12" for ESAC
terrain. SWE values around 1-2.50" for the Tahoe Basin, tapering
to 0.2-1.2" for BAC and ESAC. SLRs a bit higher due to the colder
nature of the storm, up to 9-13:1.
-Giralte/HC
&&
.FIRE WEATHER...
Strong to locally damaging downsloping winds are anticipated for
this evening into Thursday morning. A High Wind Warning is in
effect for the Sierra Front from this afternoon through Thursday
morning. Westerly winds will bring 70 to 80 mph gusts to wind
prone locations, such as Washoe Valley and favored canyons across
Mono County. The arrival of the strongest gusts overnight will
lead to poor overnight recoveries Wednesday night. Recent warmth
and eroding snowpack exposing areas of vegetation may have allowed
some fuels to become receptive to sparks, and high winds could
carry sparks into those receptive fuels. However, we got wetting
rain across portions of the Sierra Front and rain/snow in the
Sierra which should help inhibit fire concerns. But be mindful
that some areas may not have received enough precipitation
overnight.
-HRICH/HC
&&
.REV Watches/Warnings/Advisories...
NV...Wind Advisory from 2 PM Wednesday to 11 AM PDT Thursday NVZ001-
004-005.
High Wind Warning from 2 PM Wednesday to 11 AM PDT Thursday
NVZ003.
Winter Weather Advisory until 8 AM PDT Thursday NVZ002.
CA...Wind Advisory from 2 PM Wednesday to 11 AM PDT Thursday CAZ070.
High Wind Warning from 2 PM Wednesday to 11 AM PDT Thursday
CAZ071-073.
Winter Weather Advisory until 8 AM PDT Thursday CAZ072.
Winter Weather Advisory until 5 AM PDT Wednesday CAZ073.
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind, 1 winter weather, 1 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Mt. Rose Ski Base reported 8-10 inches of new snow in the last 24 hours with a 2 day storm total of 17-21 inches.
ASOS KRNO Reno measured a wind gust of 78 mph. Also, mesonet station WASNV 3.2 S Washoe City measured a wind gust of 83 mph. Lastly, mesonet station GALN2 Galena measured a wind gust of 74 mph.
Mesonet station SWWNV Sweetwater Summit measured a wind gust of 61 mph.
Mesonet station STGNV 2.8 E Stagecoach measured a wind gust of 56 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2026Every state in 2026This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, April 2026
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: 1321589, 1321636, 1321637, 1321638.