A ridge of high pressure and southwest flow brought unusually warm temperatures to the Mojave Desert in the middle of the month. High temperatures in Las Vegas rose above 95 degrees on the 9th, and remained there through the 20th.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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 episode as NWS VEF wrote it up.
A ridge of high pressure and southwest flow brought unusually warm temperatures to the Mojave Desert in the middle of the month. High temperatures in Las Vegas rose above 95 degrees on the 9th, and remained there through the 20th. Overnight lows were also unusually warm, including a record high minimum of 72 degrees on the 12th. An elderly woman died of hyperthermia on the 13th.
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 May 13, 8:43 AM PST, 3 hours 17 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 943 AM PDT SUN MAY 13 2007 .SYNOPSIS...DRY CONDITIONS WITH OCCASIONAL HIGH CLOUDINESS AND ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE THROUGH NEXT WEEK UNDER A SOUTHWEST FLOW PATTERN. && .UPDATE...WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SOME STRONGER THAN ANTICIPATED NORTH WINDS IN THE OWENS VALLEY THIS MORNING...CURRENT FORECAST IN GOOD SHAPE AND NO UPDATES ARE PLANNED. BOTH THE 12Z NAM AND GFS FORECAST A COLD FRONT MOVING INTO THE NORTHERN REGIONS OF THE CWFA TONIGHT. THE NAM IS FAIRLY AGGRESSIVE WITH THE 850 MB WIND SPEEDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE FRONT AS IT MAKES ITS WAY DOWN THE OWENS VALLEY. WILL BE EVALUATING THIS FOR THE AFTERNOON PACKAGE. .FIRE WEATHER...BOTH THE 12Z NAM AND GFS SHOW A BAND OF HIGHER WINDS ALOFT OVER EASTERN CLARK...MOHAVE AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST LINCOLN CNTY THIS MORNING. BOTH MODELS FORECAST SOME WEAKENING OF THESE WINDS AS THE DAY GOES ON BUT IF THEY WERE TO MIX TO THE SURFACE...GUSTS OVER 30 MPH WOULD NOT BE OUT OF THE QUESTION. WILL KEEP A CLOSE EYE OF THIS TODAY AS WIND GUSTS OF THIS STRENGTH WOULD CREATE HAZARDOUS FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS WITH SINGLE DIGIT RELATIVE HUMIDITIES AND VERY HIGH TO EXTREME FIRE DANGER. .PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...318 AM PDT... .SHORT TERM...SATELLITE SHOWS SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WITH ONE SLUG OF CIRRUS EXITING THE CWFA AND ANOTHER ROLLING IN FROM CALIFORNIA. AIRMASS REMAINS VERY DRY BELOW THE CIRRUS LEVEL...AND THE ISSUE OF THE DAY IS AGAIN FIRE WEATHER. THIS IS ONE OF THE TOUGHEST RED FLAG WARNING CALLS IN MEMORY. RELATIVE HUMIDITIES AND FIRE DANGER ARE BOTH SLAM DUNKS...BUT WINDS ARE NOT. YESTERDAY...WINDS MET CRITERIA OVER MAYBE HALF OF THE RED FLAG WARNING AREA. TODAY...WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO BE JUST A HAIR WEAKER AS THE TROUGH AXIS APPROACHES AND THE BELT OF STRONGER WINDS MOVES FARTHER EAST. HAVE BEEN WRESTLING WITH THE QUESTION OF WHETHER THE EXTREME HUMIDITIES AND FIRE DANGER ARE ENOUGH TO JUSTIFY A WARNING DESPITE WINDS WHICH ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN JUST BELOW CRITERIA. DECIDED TO FORGO THE WARNING...BUT WILL INCLUDE HEADLINES IN THE FIRE WEATHER ZONES HIGHLIGHTING THE LOW HUMIDITY AND HIGH FIRE DANGER. .LONG TERM...STRONG RIDGING OVER THE FORECAST AREA IS PROGGED TO SLOWLY TRANSITION EASTWARD HOWEVER...LITTLE CHANGE IN WEATHER EXPECTED WITH CONTINUED DRY SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT. A SLIGHT COOLING TREND IS EXPECTED LATE NEXT WEEK AND INTO THE WEEKEND AS A TROUGH APPROACHES THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST COAST...BUT TEMPERATURES SHOULD REMAIN SLIGHTLY ABOVE CLIMO NORMS THROUGH NEXT SUNDAY. BEYOND THE FORECAST PERIOD...LAST SEVERAL MODEL RUNS SHOWING CONTINUITY WITH A MEAN TROUGH OVER THE WESTERN CONUS EARLY NEXT WEEK...INDICATING TEMPS MAY BE RETURNING TO NORMAL OR SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL BY EARLY NEXT WEEK. && .AVIATION...FOR KLAS: NO SIGNIFICANT WEATHER IS EXPECTED AS HIGH PRESSURE REMAINS THE DOMINANT WEATHER FEATURE. THIN CIRRUS AND PERSISTENT WINDS OUT OF THE SOUTHWEST CAN BE EXPECTED...WITH GUSTS UP TO 20 KNOTS BETWEEN 20Z AND 02Z. THE REST OF SOUTHERN NEVADA...NORTHWEST ARIZONA...AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA: NO SIGNIFICANT WEATHER EXPECTED. SCATTERED HIGH CLOUDS WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE OVER THE AREA DURING THE DAY WITH 10 TO 15 KNOT SURFACE WINDS...GUSTING TO AROUND 25 KNOTS DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS. && .VEF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... .NV...NONE. .AZ...NONE. .CA...NONE. && SALMEN/MORGAN/KENNEDY HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/LASVEGAS
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 excessive heat. Local standard time, as filed.
An 84-year old woman died of hyperthermia on May 13th in Las Vegas. The exact time of death is unknown.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Excessive Heat, Las Vegas Valley | 2007-05-13 | 84 | Female | Business | Indirect |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, May 2007
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: 32064.