Heavy Rain — Washoe, Nevada

2024-11-25 to 2024-11-26 · near Incline Vlg, Washoe, Nevada

Event narrative

A mesonet station (SCRN2) located 5.0 mi NE of Washoe City, NV, and another mesonet station (LVYN2-Little Valley) located 2.0 mi ESE of Diamond Peak Ski base, NV, reported a 24 hour rainfall totals of 0.94 inches, and 0.52 respectively.

Wider weather episode

This rounded out a series of 3 AR fed storm systems that arrived late on the 24th, and continued to the 26th. This third, colder, storm system in the series brought another round of precipitation to the Sierra and western Nevada. Early on, this colder system held the best potential for accumulating snowfall. Blended guidance initially showed a 30-40% chance of 3 feet of snow along the Sierra crest, a 25-35% chance of 12 inches of snow in Sierra communities, like Mammoth and South Lake Tahoe, and only a 10-15% chance of an inch of snow for lower western NV areas by early morning on the 23rd. Although the liquid storm totals with this storm were not nearly as impressive as the previous storm system, the colder air, and lower snow levels, allowed for a potential of higher snow totals. Follow-up projections still anticipated the potential for another foot or more of snow above 7000 feet near the Sierra crest with a greater than 75% chance for Mono/Alpine counties, but with less certainty (30-60% chance) around the Tahoe Basin. For Sierra/Tahoe communities around the Lake Tahoe Basin, there was still about a 25-50% chance for at least 4 inches of snowfall. Western NV valleys looked to have mainly light rain showers, with maybe a brief rain-snow mix toward the end of the event on the evening/night of the 26th. Although breezy periods were projected for this storm system, wind projections were not as strong as the previous storm systems. Wind gusts in the 30-45 mph range were forecasted for valley areas with stronger winds over wind prone areas.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.2538, -119.9240)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1223588. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.