Winter Storm Quiana Brought Snow to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Record Snow to Flagstaff, Then a Plains and Midwest Blizzard

Winter Storm Quiana was a cross-country snowstorm that brought snow to the West and Southwest, including Las Vegas and the hills around Los Angeles, dumped an all-time record calendar-day snow in Flagstaff, Arizona, then moved into the Plains and upper Midwest, where it produced blizzard conditions in 9 states. Quiana finished up in the Great Lakes and Northeast, producing widespread wind gusts over 60 mph, leaving hundreds of thousands in the dark as trees and power lines were blown down.

(MORE: How Winter Storms Are Named)

Winter Storm Quiana dropped into the Southwest Feb. 20-21, becoming a potent area of low pressure over Southern California and southern Nevada by late Feb. 21.

Measurable snow fell on the strip in Las Vegas for the first time in over 10 years Feb. 20-21, with 0.8 inches measured at McCarran International Airport.

Summerlin, a western Las Vegas suburb, measured 6 to 9 inches, while the southeastern suburb of Henderson measured 2 inches of snow. Mount Charleston, Nevada, in the higher elevations west of Las Vegas, measured 24 inches of snow through Feb. 20.

Northern Arizona got pounded by several feet of snow, smashing an all-time record calendar-day snow in Flagstaff, and dumping 10 to 18 inches of snow in Kingman.

Snow pounded the Mogollon Rim of Arizona from Feb. 21-22, including areas around Flagstaff, Prescott and the high country of Arizona. Several mountain locations picked up multiple feet of snow.

Snow even fell in elevations below 3,000 feet in Arizona, including in the city of Tucson, where the National Weather Service said a few tenths to up to 3 inches had fallen in the valley, and 30 inches had fallen atop Mt. Lemmon northeast of the city.

It was the first time the city had multiple measurable snow events in one winter season since 1990-91. Winter Storm Fisher brought a New Year's snow to the city. Only 11 other days on record since 1946 had heavier snowfalls at Tucson International Airport than what fell on Feb. 22.

Heavy snow also fell in parts of the Mojave Desert of California. Yucca Valley, west of Twentynine Palms, picked up 9 to 12 inches of snow, and 7 inches of snow was reported east of Barstow.

In California, rare low-elevation snow was reported in Calabasas, Northridge, Pasadena, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, the Santa Clarita Valley, Corona and the Temescal Valley, according to the National Weather Service, at elevations between 700 and 1,100 feet.

The National Weather Service's Oxnard, California, office also said snow was reported in some beach locations, including Malibu Pier and Leo Carrillo Beach, but melted on contact with the ground. No snow fell in downtown Los Angeles, however, keeping a snowless streak alive there since January 1962.

Snow levels dropped on Feb. 22 in the Four Corners as Quiana pivoted across the region.

Locations on the far northeastern side of the Phoenix metro area north of Scottsdale picked up 8 to 12 inches of snow. Parts of the Phoenix metro also picked up hail on the warm side of Quiana.

Enough moisture and heat was available at lower elevations that a funnel cloud was spotted at a spring training event in Peoria, Arizona, near Phoenix, during the afternoon of Feb. 22.

Quiana spread into the Plains and Midwest Feb. 23. Blizzard conditions were reported in Cheyenne Wells, Colorado, Goodland, Kansas, and Omaha, Nebraska.

(NEWS: Winter Storm Quiana Impacts)

Interstate 80 in parts of eastern Nebraska and Interstate 70 in Kansas were closed on the afternoon of Feb. 23 due to extremely dangerous or impossible driving conditions.

Two inches of snow fell in 45 minutes early Feb. 23 in Garden City, Kansas, and snowfall rates may have been as high as 4 inches per hour in Omaha, Nebraska.

The stormy side of Quiana was responsible for spinning up an EF3 tornado that struck Columbus, Mississippi, late Feb. 23.

Blizzard conditions were reported Feb. 24 in parts of the northern Plains and upper Midwest as winds picked up on the backside of Winter Storm Quiana's area of low pressure. This included portions of Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Michigan.

(MORE: Full official track and blizzard areas)

A pileup involving dozens of vehicles shut down all southbound lanes of Interstate 41 south of Appleton, Wisconsin, on the afternoon of Feb. 24.

A portion of Interstate 90 was closed by the snow and wind in southern Minnesota. Interstate 35 was also closed from southern Minnesota into northern Iowa. In North Dakota, Interstate 29 was closed from Grand Forks to the Canadian border.

Snow drifts up to 6 feet high were reported in southeastern Minnesota and parts of Iowa.

Strong winds behind Quiana produced wind gusts of 70 to 80 mph near the shores of lakes Erie and Ontario in western and central New York Feb. 24-25, with 40- to 65-plus-mph gusts reported over a rather large swath of the Midwest, Great Lakes, Appalachians and Northeast. Winds, high water levels and cold air turned a beach house in Upstate New York into a house covered by several inches of ice.

The strongest gusts clocked in at 88 mph in Snowshoe, West Virginia, and 86 mph on Whiteface Mountain in New York's Adirondack Mountains.

Oswego, New York, reported an 80-mph wind gust on the morning of Feb. 25, leading to extremely high waves on Lake Ontario. Classes at SUNY Oswego were canceled Feb. 25 due to these dangerous winds.

On Feb. 25, Windsor Locks/Bradley International Airport in Connecticut reported a wind gust of 63 mph. New York City gusted to 58 mph at LaGuardia Airport. Boston also gusted to 58 mph at Logan Airport. A gust of 54 mph was reported at Philadelphia International Airport.

On Feb. 24, Niagara Falls, New York, gusted to 74 mph, while Buffalo and Lima, Ohio, gusted to 69 mph and Cleveland reported a gust of 67 mph. The University of Buffalo bookstore suffered roof damage from these high winds.

Winds also gusted to 60 mph in Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin, on the afternoon of Feb. 24.

Indianapolis reported a 65-mph wind gust on the morning of Feb. 24, and Detroit and Saginaw, Michigan, gusted to 61 mph that afternoon.

The National Weather Service noted Ft. Wayne, Indiana, recorded 16 separate wind observations with gusts of at least 58 mph, comprising 30 percent of all such wind observations in their records dating to 1948 from Quiana alone.

St. Louis measured a wind gust of 66 mph just before midnight Feb. 23.

Hundreds of thousands lost power from the northern Plains to the upper Midwest, Great Lakes, Appalachians and Northeast, according to PowerOutage.us.

Mount Washington, New Hampshire, measured a wind gust of 171 mph on the evening of Feb. 25. That surpassed the previous February wind record of 166 mph set in 1972. The all-time wind record at Mount Washington is 231 mph from April 1934.

Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina, also set a February record wind gust of 124 mph, breaking the previous record set less than two weeks prior to that, in wind records dating to 2007.

Here are select snowfall reports by state from Winter Storm Quiana.

Arizona: 48 inches in Kachina Village; 40.8 inches in Flagstaff; up to 28 inches in city of Prescott; up to 18 inches in Kingman and Sedona; 1.9 inches in Tucson

California: 24 inches at Lake Cuyamaca; 14 inches in Big Bear City; flurries in Malibu, Los Angeles

Colorado: 40 inches at Wolf Creek Pass; 24 inches near Durango; 8.3 inches at Denver International Airport

Connecticut: 1 inch in Woodstock and Staffordville; 0.01 inches of ice in Colebrook

Illinois: 0.5 inches in Davis; 0.25 inches of ice near Stockton

Iowa: 16 inches in Laurens; 8 inches near Mason City

Kansas: 11 inches in Garden City and Hays; 6.1 inches in Goodland

Maine: 14 inches in Fort Kent; 10.6 inches in Caribou

Massachusetts: 3 inches in Savoy; 0.10 inches of ice in Peru

Michigan: 25.9 inches in Ewen; 18 inches near Negaunee; 0.25 inches of ice near Horton Bay

Minnesota: 14.3 inches near Rochester; 3.5 inches at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

Nebraska: 12 inches in Ceresco; 10 inches near Omaha

Nevada: 24 inches on Mt. Charleston; 1 inch in Reno, 0.8 inches in Las Vegas

New Hampshire: 7.8 inches in Randolph

New Mexico: 26 inches near Arroyo Seco; 15 inches near Gallup; 3.6 inches at the Albuquerque Sunport

New York: 10 inches in Redfield; 0.18 inches of ice in Plattsburgh

North Dakota: 8 inches in Lisbon; 4 inches in Fargo

Pennsylvania: 3.5 inches near Union City; 0.35 inches of ice in Wopsononock

South Dakota: 8 inches near Hoven; 3.8 inches near Pierre

Utah: 13 inches near Blanding; 4 inches in St. George

Vermont: 4.7 inches near Greensboro; 0.05 inches of ice in Springfield; 0.03 inches of ice in Burlington

Wisconsin: 16 inches near Independence and Eagle River; 11.5 in Eau Claire; 0.20 inches of ice near Hollandale