1 heat, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Las Vegas, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 12, 2:35 PM PST, 2 hours 25 minutes earlier.
MOJAVE DESERT/SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 335 PM PDT SAT JUL 12 2003 .SYNOPSIS...NEAR RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE TO BE FELT ACROSS THE SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN AND MOJAVE DESERT INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK AS A STRONG RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE REMAINS OVER THE AREA. THERE WILL CONTINUE TO BE A GRADUAL INCREASE IN HIGH LEVEL MOISTURE EACH DAY WITH DEBRIS CLOUDS COMING INTO THE AREA FROM SOUTHERN ARIZONA AND NORTHWEST MEXICO. .DISCUSSION...12Z MODELS LATE...BUT DID SEE ENOUGH OF THE 12Z GFS THAT NOT A WHOLE LOT OF CHANGES PLANNED. STRONG UPPER HIGH SLATED TO STAY JUST TO OUR SOUTH OR SOUTHEAST. THIS WILL KEEP TEMPERATURES ABOVE NORMAL INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. BELIEVE MOST RECORDS OUT OF REACH BUT WILL CONTINUE TO HEADLINE PRODUCTS WITH NEAR RECORD TEMPERATURES. CONVECTION FIRING IN NEARLY SAME LOCATIONS ACROSS ARIZONA THIS AFTERNOON COMPARED TO 24 HOURS AGO. APPEARS LOW LEVEL MOISTURE DID NOT SEEP ANY FURTHER WEST OVERNIGHT AS BUILDUPS OVER HIGHER TERRAIN OF MOHAVE COUNTY QUITE FLAT. DEEPER CONVECTION FIRING ALONG THE RIM FROM FLAGSTAFF SOUTHEAST WILL MOVE INTO THE LOWER DESERTS OF SOUTHEAST ARIZONA TONIGHT. FOR THREE DAYS RUNNING CONVECTIVE DEBRIS CLOUDS HAVE GOT CAUGHT IN SOUTH FLOW AROUND HIGH AND MADE THEIR WAY NORTH INTO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA/NEVADA. AS FOR THE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE ON THE DOORSTEP OF NORTHWEST ARIZONA. 00Z GFS AND ALSO 12Z GFS SHOW H850 DEWPOINTS RETREATING SOUTHEAST. SO WITH NO INFLUX OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE FROM MODELS AND JUST MID/HIGH TRAPPED UNDER STRONG RIDGE WILL CONTINUE WITH A DRY FORECAST AND JUST INDICATE MORE CLOUDS OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN IN THE AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING HOURS. .EXTENDED...UPPER RIDGE IS FORECAST TO SHIFT EASTWARD TOWARD THE FOUR CORNERS REGION BY MID WEEK. SLIGHTLY LOWER HEIGHTS COMBINED WITH A FLOW THAT FAVORS AN INCREASE IN THE RECYCLED MID LEVEL MOISTURE FROM ARIZONA CONVECTION SHOULD ACT TO LOWER TEMPERATURES A DEGREE OR TWO STARTING AROUND THURSDAY. IF ENOUGH MOISTURE IS IMPORTED WE COULD BEGIN TO SEE SOME HIGH-BASED THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE MOUNTAINS OF EXTREME SOUTHERN NEVADA AND NORTHWEST ARIZONA BY THE END OF THE WEEK AS WELL. CURRENT ZONES SUGGEST THAT TREND WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE WORDING THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. .LAS...NONE. PIERCE/RUNK
AZZ001>003-036-CAZ026>029-NVZ013>022-112300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 515 AM PDT SAT JUL 12 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA/SOUTHERN NEVADA/NORTHWEST ARIZONA .DAY ONE...TODAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. HOWEVER RECORD TO NEAR RECORD TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED WHICH WILL INCREASE THE DANGER OF HEAT EXHAUSTION AND HEAT STROKE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THE PROBABILITY OF WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. HOWEVER RECORD OR NEAR RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED SUNDAY THROUGH TUESDAY...THIS WILL RESULT IN INCREASED DANGER OF HEAT EXHAUSTION AND HEAT STROKE. SEE SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT (RNOSPSVEF) FOR FURTHER DETAILS.
1 heat. Local standard time, as filed.
A man and his son became stuck in the desert at 200 pm. By 500 pm they both set out to look for help and the man's son was overcome by the heat and died.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heat, San Bernardino T Sw & X Se | 2003-07-12 | 18 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in California, July 2003
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5366298.