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 20, 2:00 PM PST, 0 minutes earlier.
MOJAVE DESERT/SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 300 PM PDT SUN JUL 20 2003 .SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE NEAR THE FOUR CORNERS REGION WILL MOVE OVER NORTHERN NEVADA MONDAY AND TUESDAY. THIS WILL BRING A WARMING TREND TO THE AREA WITH TEMPERATURES CLIMBING ONCE AGAIN TO ABOVE NORMAL READINGS. MEANWHILE MOISTURE CIRCULATING AROUND THE HIGH PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE TO BRING ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS TO MAINLY THE MOUNTAIN AREAS OF THE SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN AND MOJAVE DESERT. .DISCUSSION...ONLY ISOLATED CONVECTION NOTED OVER THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE CWA AND ACROSS MOJAVE COUNTY SO FAR AND IS INDICATIVE OF THE DRIER AIRMASS AND SLIGHT MID LEVEL WARMING/CAP THAT SHOWED UP ON THE MORNING DRA SOUNDING. MAIN CONCERN FOR THIS EVENING WILL BE ACTIVITY OVER NORTHERN ARIZONA AND HOW MUCH SHIFTS INTO THE SOUTHEAST PORTION OF THE CWA. 18Z MESOETA STILL PRODUCES GOOD CAPE OVER MOJAVE/NORTHEAST CLARK/SOUTHERN LINCOLN CNTY AND MID LEVEL STREAMLINES BECOME MORE EASTERLY OVERNIGHT AS RIDGE BEGINS TO SHIFT WEST INTO MONDAY. ATTM APPEARS THAT ISOLATED EVENING ACTIVITY AND A FEW CLOUDS OVERNIGHT SHOULD COVER AS LITTLE WEST PROGRESSION NOTED ON THE AZ ACTIVITY AS OF YET. BY MONDAY RIDGE TO BE OVER NEVADA AND REMAIN OVER THE CWA INTO WEDNESDAY. MINOR DAY BY DAY VARIATIONS IN THE POSITION WILL BE THE DETERMINING FACTOR IN THE SHORT TERM CONVECTION. MAIN ACTIVITY TO FOLLOW THE PROGGED THETA-E RIDGE AND NEG LI THE BOTH THE ETA/GFS DEPICT TO REMAIN STRETCHED FROM THE SOUTHERN SIERRA/NORTHERN CWA AND SOUTHEAST INTO NORTHWEST ARIZONA. QUESTION BECOMES IF RIDGE TO SUPPRESS ACTIVITY OR NOT AND HOW MUCH MOISTURE WILL FLOW AROUND THE SYSTEM AND BACK INTO THE AREA. GFS HAS FAIRLY SUBSTANTIAL VORT LOBE MOVING ACROSS ARIZONA MONDAY NIGHT AND INTO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ON TUESDAY. PER MODEL DISCUSSION THIS FEATURE APPEARS TO BE OVERDONE AND WILL GO ALONG WITH THIS AS ETA MUCH WEAKER AND FURTHER SOUTH WITH FEATURE. HOWEVER WILL CONTINUE CURRENT TREND OF INCREASING MOISTURE UNDER EASTERLY FLOW AND KEEPING MENTION OF CONVECTION DURING THE AFTERNOON/EVENINGS OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN WITH FINE TUNING ON A DAILY BASIS. TEMPS WARMING THIS AFTERNOON TO NEAR NORMAL WITH ADDITIONAL WARMING UNDER THE RIDGE MONDAY/TUESDAY RESULTING IN 5-8 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. CONTINUED LITTLE CHANGE IN THE EXTENDED MODELS WITH THE HIGH CENTER SHIFTING BETWEEN THE 4-CORNERS REGION AND OUR CWA. NOT LOOKING TO ANY SIGNIFICANT MOISTURE TO WORK INTO THE CWA...BUT WITH THE MONSOONAL PATTERN WILL STILL KEEP MENTION OF HIGHER ELEVATION THUNDERSTORMS IN THE FORECAST. TEMPERATURES SHOULD ALSO REMAIN NEAR TO SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH THE EXTENDED. .LAS...NONE JENSEN/GORELOW
AZZ001>003-036-CAZ026>029-NVZ013>022-211300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 605 AM PDT SUN JUL 20 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA/SOUTHERN NEVADA/NORTHWEST ARIZONA .DAY ONE...TODAY THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL FORM THIS AFTERNOON OVER NORTHWEST ARIZONA AND SOUTH CENTRAL NEVADA. CONDITIONS DO NOT FAVOR WIDESPREAD FLASH FLOODING OR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW.
1 heat. Local standard time, as filed.
The truck a man and a woman were riding in became stuck near the Twentynine Palms Air-Ground Combat Center. They tried to walk for help, but were 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 | 2003-07-20 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct | |
| Heat, San Bernardino T Sw & X Se | 2003-07-20 | Female | 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: 5366300.