High temperatures contributed to the deaths of two people in the Las Vegas area. One death occurred on the 1st, when the high temperature was 110 degrees, and temperatures had been 105 degrees or higher for 10 out of 11 days.
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.
High temperatures contributed to the deaths of two people in the Las Vegas area. One death occurred on the 1st, when the high temperature was 110 degrees, and temperatures had been 105 degrees or higher for 10 out of 11 days. The other death occurred on the 4th, when the high temperature was 100 degrees, and temperatures had been 100 degrees or higher for 16 out of 18 days.
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 Aug 1, 3:12 AM PST, 9 hours 48 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 412 AM PDT FRI AUG 1 2008 .SYNOPSIS...HOT AND DRY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TODAY WITH GUSTY SOUTH WINDS DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS. MONSOON MOISTURE WILL BEGIN PUSHING WESTWARD OVER THE WEEKEND LEADING TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS OVER MUCH OF THE MOJAVE DESERT EARLY NEXT WEEK. && .SHORT TERM...IPW OVER MOST OF THE FORECAST AREA HAS NUDGED UP TO AROUND A HALF-INCH. THE MAJORITY OF THAT RECOVERY IS MID AND UPPER LEVEL MOISTURE. MODELS HAVE BEEN WAY TOO AGGRESSIVE AT PREDICTING MOISTENING OF THE LOWER BOUNDARY LAYER THE LAST FEW DAYS. SURFACE DEWPOINTS ARE STILL IN THE TEENS OVER CENTRAL NEVADA AND BELOW 30F AS FAR SOUTH AS LAS VEGAS. GOES SOUNDER PW INDICATES THE 1-INCH ISOPLETH IS JUST SOUTH OF OUR FORECAST AREA...APPROXIMATELY ALONG A IPL-BLH-PHX LINE. FLOW IN THE 600-400MB LAYER IS EXPECTED TO TURN MORE SOUTHEASTERLY SATURDAY WHICH WILL OPEN A PATH FOR IMPORTING MID-LEVEL MOISTURE INTO OUR REGION...HOWEVER I SEE NO MECHANISM TO GENERATE A SIGNIFICANT LOW LEVEL SURGE. 850MB FLOW IS FORECAST TO REMAIN WESTERLY THROUGH AT LEAST SUNDAY. THE MOST LIKELY EVOLUTION WILL BE FOR MID AND UPPER LEVELS TO MOISTEN AND SLOWLY MIX DOWNWARD SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. IF A MULTI-CELL CLUSTER OF STORMS CAN ORGANIZE OVER SOUTHERN ARIZONA IT WOULD BE CONCEIVABLE FOR MCS OUTFLOW TO ACCELERATE THE DEWPOINT RISES SUNDAY. IN THE ABSENCE OF THAT...IT WILL PROBABLY BE MONDAY OR TUESDAY BEFORE A SIGNIFICANT THREAT OF THUNDERSTORMS REACHES INTO SOUTHERN NEVADA. GFS AND ECMWF BOTH HINT AT AN INVERTED TROUGH TRACKING WESTWARD FROM TEXAS AND EVENTUALLY TRANSLATING THROUGH NORTHWEST ARIZONA AND FAR SOUTHERN NEVADA TUESDAY. IF THAT PANS OUT IT COULD MAKE THINGS INTERESTING FOR AN ORGANIZED FLASH FLOOD EVENT. THE FEATURE IS VISIBLE IN WATER VAPOR IMAGERY NOW SO IT SHOULD BE EASY TO MONITOR. -RUNK- .LONG TERM...MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY...SYNOPTIC PATTERN STARTS WITH A BROAD RIDGE CENTERED OVER THE SOUTHERN PLAINS AND WEAK SOUTHEAST FLOW OVER THE CWA. THE SOUTHEAST PART GETTING THE FIRST AND MOST MOISTURE FROM THIS FLOW. MODELS STILL SHOW A WEAK INVERTED TROUGH ENTERING OUR CWA BY TUESDAY AND LINGERING AROUND THROUGH WEDNESDAY WHICH CAN ENHANCE THE PRECIPITATION CHANCES. THUNDERSTORM CHANCES INCREASE AND SPREAD NORTHWEST SOME EACH DAY SO THAT BY WEDNESDAY THE ENTIRE CWA WILL HAVE A CHANCE AT SEEING THUNDERSTORMS. BY THURSDAY AN APPROACHING TROUGH WILL BRING IN SOME DRIER SOUTHWEST FLOW AND THE WESTERN ZONES WILL HAVE LOWER POPS THEN. PRETTY MUCH LEFT EXISTING FORECAST BE WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SOME LOWERING OF TEMPERATURES. && .AVIATION...FOR MCCARRAN...ANOTHER DAY OF ESSENTIALLY CLEAR SKIES AND GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS IN THE AFTERNOON. SATURDAY WILL SEE INCREASED CLOUD COVER AS MOIST AIR RETURNS. MONDAY ONWARDS WILL SEE THUNDERSTORMS BECOME A CONCERN FOR THE AREA. FOR THE REST OF SOUTHERN NEVADA...NORTHWEST ARIZONA...AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA...VERY LITTLE IN CLOUD COVER TODAY AND CONTINUED HOT TEMPERATURES. WINDS WILL BE GUSTY IN THE AFTERNOON. SUNDAY WILL SEE INCREASING CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS STARTING IN MOHAVE COUNTY AND BY WEDNESDAY OVER MOST THE FORECAST AREA. && .VEF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NV...NONE. AZ...NONE. CA...NONE. && RUNK/JACQUES HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/LASVEGAS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 528 AM PDT FRI AUG 1 2008 AZZ001>003-036-CAZ519>527-NVZ014>022-020330- 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- 528 AM PDT FRI AUG 1 2008 /528 AM MST FRI AUG 1 2008/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST ARIZONA...CALIFORNIA AND SOUTHERN NEVADA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. HOWEVER INCREASING MOISTURE WILL LEAD TO ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT OVER NORTHWEST ARIZONA BY SUNDAY. THUNDERSTORMS WILL EXPAND INTO SOUTHERN NEVADA MONDAY AND TUESDAY WITH SOME POTENTIAL FOR A FEW OF THE STRONGEST STORMS TO POSE A THREAT OF FLASH FLOODING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heat. Local standard time, as filed.
Two people in the Las Vegas area died of heat-related causes - one on the 1st and one on the 4th.
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, Las Vegas Valley | 2008-08-01 | 81 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
| Heat, Las Vegas Valley | 2008-08-04 | 70 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, August 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: 134713.