diff --git a/spec/text-editor-presenter-spec.coffee b/spec/text-editor-presenter-spec.coffee
index 7691b663f..163521c32 100644
--- a/spec/text-editor-presenter-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/text-editor-presenter-spec.coffee
@@ -839,6 +839,11 @@ describe "TextEditorPresenter", ->
           expect(presenter.state.content.lines[oldLine3.id]).toBeUndefined()
           expect(presenter.state.content.lines[newLine3.id]).toBeDefined()
 
+        it "does not attempt to preserve lines corresponding to ::mouseWheelScreenRow if they have been deleted", ->
+          presenter = buildPresenter(explicitHeight: 25, scrollTop: 0, lineHeight: 10, lineOverdrawMargin: 1, stoppedScrollingDelay: 200)
+          presenter.setMouseWheelScreenRow(10)
+          editor.setText('')
+
         describe "[lineId]", -> # line state objects
           it "includes the .endOfLineInvisibles if the editor.showInvisibles config option is true", ->
             editor.setText("hello\nworld\r\n")
diff --git a/src/text-editor-presenter.coffee b/src/text-editor-presenter.coffee
index 215398c05..b76666209 100644
--- a/src/text-editor-presenter.coffee
+++ b/src/text-editor-presenter.coffee
@@ -228,8 +228,8 @@ class TextEditorPresenter
       row++
 
     if @mouseWheelScreenRow?
-      preservedLine = @model.tokenizedLineForScreenRow(@mouseWheelScreenRow)
-      visibleLineIds[preservedLine.id] = true
+      if preservedLine = @model.tokenizedLineForScreenRow(@mouseWheelScreenRow)
+        visibleLineIds[preservedLine.id] = true
 
     for id, line of @state.content.lines
       unless visibleLineIds.hasOwnProperty(id)