Yet another series of Pacific storms brought heavy snow, high winds, and thunderstorms to parts of the Mojave Desert and Southern Great Basin.
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.
Yet another series of Pacific storms brought heavy snow, high winds, and thunderstorms to parts of the Mojave Desert and Southern Great Basin.
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 Feb 20, 4:10 PM MST, 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 310 PM PST WED FEB 20 2008 .SYNOPSIS...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL REMAIN OVER THE AREA THIS EVENING AS A FAST MOVING PACIFIC STORM EXITS TO THE EAST TONIGHT. HOWEVER THE WEATHER PATTERN WILL REMAIN UNSETTLED THROUGH THE WEEKEND...AS ADDITIONAL PACIFIC STORMS SWING INTO THE AREA LATE THURSDAY AND FRIDAY AND AGAIN ON SUNDAY. HIGH PRESSURE IS THEN EXPECTED TO BUILD OVER THE DESERT SOUTHWEST EARLY NEXT WEEK...BRINGING DRIER AND WARMER WEATHER TO THE AREA. && .SHORT TERM...UPPER LOW JUST ABOUT CENTERED OVER SOUTHERN NEVADA AS OF 23Z WITH COLD POOL ALOFT/DECREASED STABILITY ALLOWING FOR SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS MUCH OF SOUTHERN NEVADA/NORTHWEST ARIZONA AND EXTENDING WEST INTO SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY. ENOUGH DYNAMICS THAT HAIL IS POSSIBLE WITH THE THUNDERSTORMS AND WILL CONTINUED TO BE MONITORED THROUGH THE EVENING. AS THE LOW SHIFTS INTO ARIZONA OVERNIGHT...WEAK RIDGE TO MOVE OVER THE CWA EARLY THURSDAY. HOWEVER NEXT SHORTWAVE TROUGH TO SHIFT INTO THE SOUTHERN SIERRA BY THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND THEN ACROSS THE CWA THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY. MAIN ENERGY FROM THIS SYSTEM TO BE OVER THE WESTERN AND NORTHERN PORTION OF THE CWA. SOME CONCERN ON THE AMOUNT OF SNOW FOR THE EAST SLOPES OF THE SOUTHERN SIERRA...BUT BEST DYNAMICS TO BE UPSLOPE CONDITIONS ON THE WEST SIDE...THUS WILL NOT ISSUE ANY ADVISORIES OR WATCHES AT THIS POINT. THIS SECOND SYSTEM WILL EXIT THE AREA LATE FRIDAY NIGHT WHICH WILL THEN LEAD TO THE NEXT SYSTEM MENTIONED IN THE LONG TERM. SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENTS ESPECIALLY ACROSS WESTERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY WITH FLOW ALOFT DECREASING TO ALLOW FOR SURFACE WINDS TO DECREASE BY MID EVENING. WILL CONTINUE THE WIND ADVISORY HOWEVER THROUGH 7 PM AS WIND GUSTS TO OVER 40 MPH STILL BEING REPORTED ACROSS MUCH OF THE DAGGETT/BARSTOW AREA AS OF 23Z. NEXT SYSTEM LATE THURSDAY/FRIDAY WILL ONCE AGAIN BRING BREEZY/WINDY CONDITIONS TO MUCH OF THE CWA BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON. UNDER THE UNSETTLE PATTERN...DAYTIME TEMPERATURES TO REMAIN A LITTLE BELOW NORMAL THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK. .LONG TERM...MODELS KEPT THE TREND OF SLOWING DOWN SUNDAYS SYSTEM THAT I HAD TO BUMP UP A BIT THE POPS FOR EARLY MONDAY MORNING. MODELS STILL SHOW A VERY HEALTHY AMOUNT OF PRECIPITATION ON THE SIERRA AND HAVE RAISED POPS EVEN MORE THERE BEGINNING LATE SATURDAY. SOME ITEMS OF CONCERN FOR THE EXTENDED ARE TEMPERATURES AFTER SUNDAYS SYSTEM AND THE POSSIBILITY OF A SIERRA DOWNSLOPE WIND EVENT SUNDAY. FOR NOW DO NOT EXPECT A DOWNSLOPE EVENT DESPITE THE FAVORABLE WIND PROFILE. BELIEVE THE PRECIPITATION DRAG WILL HINDER THIS. THE OTHER IS THE LATEST TEMPERATURE GUIDANCE WAS QUITE A BIT WARMER NEXT WEEK WITH THE RIDGE BUILDING IN. WENT AND RAISED TEMPERATURES A BIT AS I FEEL WERE A BIT TOO COOL BUT NOT READY TO JUMP ON THE PLUS 70 TEMPERATURES FOR SOME LOCATIONS YET && .AVIATION...FOR MCCARRAN...FOR THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON BANDS OF LIGHT RAIN CROSSING THE VALLEY ARE POSSIBLE. ACTIVITY SHOULD SUBSIDE BY MID EVENING (05Z). CEILINGS AND VISIBILITIES ARE ANTICIPATED TO STAY ABOVE 3000/5. WINDS WILL BE VARIABLE FROM SOUTH TO NORTHWEST. STILL A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR A THUNDERSTORM AS WELL. THURSDAY WILL SEE NO CEILINGS AND LIGHT NORTHEAST TO SOUTHEAST WINDS. FOR THE REST OF SOUTHERN NEVADA...NORTHWEST ARIZONA...AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA...THE UPPER LEVEL LOW BRINGING TODAYS WIDESPREAD RAIN AND THUNDER WILL SLOWLY MOVE EAST TONIGHT. RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE MOSTLY BE CONFINED TO SOUTHERN NEVADA AND NORTHWEST ARIZONA...WITH THE ACTIVITY OUT OF THE AREA BY 12Z THURSDAY. THURSDAY WILL SEE CLEARING AND LIGHT WINDS AS A SHORT LIVED RIDGE BUILDS OVER THE AREA IN ADVANCE OF ANOTHER STORM SYSTEM TO MOVE THROUGH ON FRIDAY. && .VEF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NV...NONE. AZ...NONE. CA...WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM FOR CA523. && JENSEN/JACQUES HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/LASVEGAS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 244 AM PST WED FEB 20 2008 AZZ001>003-036-CAZ519>527-NVZ014>022-210800- NORTHWEST PLATEAU-LOWER COLORADO RIVER VALLEY-NORTHWEST DESERTS- LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA-EASTERN SIERRA SLOPES- OWENS VALLEY-WHITE MOUNTAINS OF INYO COUNTY- DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK-WESTERN MOJAVE DESERT- EASTERN MOJAVE DESERT-MORONGO BASIN-CADIZ BASIN- SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY-UPPER COLORADO RIVER VALLEY- ESMERALDA AND CENTRAL NYE COUNTY-LINCOLN COUNTY- NORTHEAST CLARK COUNTY-WESTERN CLARK AND SOUTHERN NYE COUNTY- SHEEP RANGE-SPRING MOUNTAINS-LAS VEGAS VALLEY- SOUTHERN CLARK COUNTY- 244 AM PST WED FEB 20 2008 /344 AM MST WED FEB 20 2008/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST ARIZONA...CALIFORNIA AND SOUTHERN NEVADA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL CROSS THE AREA TODAY AND TONIGHT. THIS STORM WILL BRING CHANCES FOR SHOWERS...THUNDERSTORMS AND MOUNTAIN SNOW TO MOST AREAS...ALONG WITH GUSTY WINDS OVER PARTS OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY. WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS NOT LIKELY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY TWO MORE STORM SYSTEMS WILL AFFECT THE REGION DURING THIS PERIOD...MOST LIKELY ON FRIDAY AND SUNDAY. THESE STORMS WILL ALSO BRING CHANCES FOR MOUNTAIN SNOW AND VALLEY RAIN ALONG WITH GUSTY WINDS. WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS NOT LIKELY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED...BUT SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. MORGAN
The Las Vegas radar (KESX), 87 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:53 UTC.
1 hail, 1 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Dime size hail fell in Golden Valley, along with heavy rain which left standing water in the roads.
Strong winds lifted a trampoline into one set of power lines, and blew a tree down into another set of power lines. Approximately 5,000 people were without power for one to two hours.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arizona in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Arizona, February 2008
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: 77080, 77762.