High Wind — Greater Lake Tahoe Area, California

2025-02-24 · Greater Lake Tahoe Area, California

Event narrative

A mesonet station located Palisades Tahoe Ski Base, CA, and mesonet station (HVRGM) mid station gondola weather station located 1.0 mi ENE of the Heavenly Ski base, CA, reported peak wind gusts of 83 mph, and 71 mph respectively.

Wider weather episode

An area of low pressure moved across the Pacific Northwest the afternoon through the night of the 24th, and was mainly a wind maker with a few brief showers developing near the Sierra during the day. The strongest gusts reached the Surprise Valley and northern Washoe County where Wind Advisories were hoisted for those areas. This included some strong late night of the 24th with SW-W gusts pushing across the Warner Mountains. Other areas north of US-50 were projected to see wind gusts mainly in the 40-50 mph range with brief 50-60 mph gusts possible in wind prone sites during the afternoon-early evening, with patchy blowing dust downwind of deserts and sinks in northwest-west were less significant with gusts general 35 mph or less.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1238810. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.