Alert archive / Nevada / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 2, NWS Las Vegas, NV

September 4, 1987Clark County, Nevada

NWS Las Vegas, NV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 4, 1987, 4:31 PM PDT for Clark County, Nevada. It was in force for 59 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Sep 4, 1987, 4:31 PM PDT (23:31 UTC)
Expired
Sep 4, 1987, 5:30 PM PDT
In force
59 min
Issued by
NWS Las Vegas, NV
Area
Whole counties

County Clark County, NV

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Mercury/Desert R, NV (KDRA), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 99 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Mercury/Desert R, NV at 12:00Z on 1987-09-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Mercury/Desert R, NV at 12:00Z on 1987-09-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 6 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
2958 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
87 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KLAS 042331
SVRLAS
NVC003-050030-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
431 PM PDT FRI SEP 4 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  530 PM PDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTH NEVADA
          ...SOUTHERN CLARK
 
WEATHER RADAR IN LAS VEGAS SHOWS SCATTERED HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS
OVER CLARK COUNTY..INCLUDING GREATER LAS VEGAS.  A SPOTTER IN
HENDERSON REPORTS BRIEF HEAVY RAIN AND WIND GUSTS TO 58 MPH.
POLICE INDICATE SOME FLOODING AROUND EASTERN CLARK COUNTY...
INCLUDING SUNSET AND BOULDER HIGHWAY IN HENDERSON.
 
THIS WARNING INCLUDES THE GREATER LAS VEGAS METRO AREA AS WELL
AS THE LAKE MEAD AND MOHAVE RECREATION AREA.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A
STRONG BUILDING.  DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...
AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.
STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOORz
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 4, 3:35 PM PDT, 56 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS, NV
335 PM PDT FRI SEP 04 1987

...THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER SOUTHERN NEVADA...

AT 315 PM WEATHER RADAR IN LAS VEGAS SHOWED A RAPID INCREASE IN
THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE SOUTHERN HALF OF NEVADA.  SOME OF THE STORMS
WERE MODERATE TO HEAVY IN INTENSITY.  MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY DURING THE NEXT FEW HOURS OVER
MOST OF SOUTHERN NEVADA INCLUDING THE LAS VEGAS AREA.

DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...GUSTY WINDS TO 40 MPH AND BRIEF HEAVY RAIN IS
POSSIBLE THIS EVENING.  BOATERS ON LAKE MEAD ARE REMINDED A LAKE WIND
ADVISORY HAS BEEN PUT INTO EFFECT FOR THIS EVENING DUE TO GUSTY WINDS
AROUND THUNDERSTORM6S.  SKIES SHOULD CLEAR LATER TONIGHT.

STAY TUNED TO THIS STATION FOR LATER STATEMENTS.
SDB/2235Z

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Nevada, 1987Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1987

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.