A trough pushed across the region on the 4th, bringing gusty to strong winds across the eastern Sierra and western Nevada. Isolated showers with little or no measurable precipitation occurred with this front during the afternoon and evening.
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 trough pushed across the region on the 4th, bringing gusty to strong winds across the eastern Sierra and western Nevada. Isolated showers with little or no measurable precipitation occurred with this front during the afternoon and evening.
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 Mar 4, 12:19 PM PST, 41 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Reno NV
1219 PM PST Wed Mar 4 2026
.KEY MESSAGES...
* A mild cold front will pass through the region today, bringing
light rain and mountain snow chances areawide along with gusty
winds, strongest across the Western Nevada Basin and Range and
eastern Sierra.
* A brief cooldown and breezy winds are expected on Thursday.
* Dry conditions and above average temperatures are forecast
this weekend through the first half of next week.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
Our cold front has arrived this morning, with a narrow band of
rain moving ESE into western NV. The snow level just out ahead of
the precip is currently around 7000ft, with some W NV valley
locations expected to reach into the mid 50s before the front
rolls through. Mono County will be the last area to hold onto
>7000ft snow levels until after 4 PM, when the front finally makes
it down there. Precip chances start off around 60-70% in NE CA,
then drop to 30-40% across the Sierra and W NV today. QPF amounts
range from 0.01-0.20" for this whole system, where Lassen County
and the Sierra crest will see the higher range of those amounts
and W NV and the Tahoe basin will see the lower range.
Gusty winds out of the west to northwest will be the main hazard
associated with this cold front. We'll see widespread gusts of
30-35 mph and wind prone locations along US-95 in Mineral County
and US- 395 in Mono County gusting 50-65+ mph. Peak winds will be
between 12PM-7PM. As of the time of this AFD, some peak gusts
across the area are 71 mph along 395 near Galena, 56 mph in Washoe
Valley, 46 mph at KTVL, and 44 mph near Virginia Lakes.
As the front pushes SE throughout the afternoon, as mentioned
before, the temperatures across W NV and NE CA will peak in the
55- 62 range and just barely over 40 degrees in the Sierra before
dropping significantly once the front passes overhead. Morning
temperatures tomorrow will be at most 32 degrees for all of W NV
and NE CA, and down into the teens for Sierra valleys.
Moving ahead to tomorrow and beyond, we will dry out and warm up.
Mostly sunny skies and light winds will be the main theme through
the weekend and into next week. Temperatures may heat up to 70 by
Sunday for W NV valleys and stay elevated into next week. Stay
tuned to see when our next chance for rain/snow will be.
-Justin
&&
.AVIATION...
A cold front is currently sweeping through the region from NW to
SE today allowing for gusty winds with light rain and mountain
snow chances. Area TAF sites will experience west-northwest winds
gusting up to around 30-35kt today through 00Z before tapering
off. KTVL will be the lone exception to this statement with
southerly winds. KTRK and KTVL will see some rain showers between
04/21-24Z which will bring about MVFR conditions. FL100 winds in
the Sierra increase to around 45-50 kts this afternoon which will
cause some some LLWS for Sierra terminals.
-078/Justin
&&
.AVALANCHE...
A cold front bringing gusty winds with light rain and snow shower
chances (20-40%) is expected across the Sierra today between noon
and 8PM. Tahoe will get the precipitation chances first, then as
the front moves south, Mono County will finally see some light
showers later on in the evening.
* Snow levels and amounts: Snow levels look to be 6-7 kft this
morning then drop to <6 kft in the afternoon from north to
south. Minimal snowfall accumulation is expected (10-20% chance
of 1+ inches in the Tahoe Basin above 7 kft, 10-15% chance 0.5+
inches in Mono County above 8 kft).
* SLR and SWE: SLRs 7-10:1 at the start of the snow, then
increasing to 12-14:1 as the front pushes south of Tahoe. SWE
expected to be less than 0.20 inches along the highest peaks.
* Wind gusts: Southwest-west ridgetop wind gusts up to 70-80 mph
in the afternoon.
* Lightning: Thunderstorm chances generally <10%, some areas
around Tahoe could reach 10-15% in more convective showers
between 1-4 PM.
-Justin/078
&&
.REV Watches/Warnings/Advisories...
NV...Lake Wind Advisory until 10 PM PST this evening NVZ002.
Wind Advisory until 10 PM PST this evening NVZ001-004.
CA...Lake Wind Advisory until 10 PM PST this evening CAZ072.
Wind Advisory until 10 PM PST this evening CAZ073.
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind, 1 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
ASOS station KLOL Lovelock measured a wind gust of 66 mph. Also, Fallon NAS measured a wind gust of 58 mph.
Mesonet station EW0588 Yerington measured a wind gust of 54 mph. Mesonet station STGNV 2.8 E Stagecoach measured a wind gusts of 53 mph. Finally, a NV DOT station 5.8 E Patrick measured a wind gust of 49 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, March 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: 1316283, 1316284.