A return of monsoon moisture triggered thunderstorms over the Mojave Desert, some of which produced flash flooding and severe weather.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 return of monsoon moisture triggered thunderstorms over the Mojave Desert, some of which produced flash flooding and severe weather.
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 3, 2:45 PM PST, 2 hours 3 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 345 PM PDT SUN AUG 3 2008 .SYNOPSIS...MOISTURE MOVING INTO THE MOJAVE DESERT AND SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN WILL BRING AN INCREASING CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS TO THE AREA THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK. TEMPERATURES WILL LOWER TO AT OR SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL BY WEDNESDAY. && .SHORT TERM...AIRMASS OVER THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE CWA HAS SLOWLY MOISTENED AND DESTABILIZED DURING THE DAY WITH ISOLATED CONVECTION AS OF 330 PM PST/MST BEING CONFINED TO MAINLY NORTHERN MOHAVE/SOUTHERN CLARK/AND PORTIONS OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY. FURTHER DESTABILIZATION EXPECTED THROUGH EARLY EVENING FOR INCREASING ACTIVITY BEFORE OVERNIGHT DECREASE. FOR MONDAY HOWEVER...NEG LIFTED INDEXES/THETA-E AXIS AND CONTINUE MOISTENING WITH PW VALUES PUSHING OVER AN INCH ACROSS MUCH OF SAN BERNARDINO/SOUTHERN MOHAVE COUNTY WILL LIKELY INCREASE TSTRM COVERAGE THIS AREA. AT THE SAME TIME AS SEEN ON WATER VAPOR...CIRCULATION FORMING VICINITY OF TUSCON WITH NAM PUSHING THIS ACROSS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MONDAY AFTERNOON FOR POSSIBLE TRIGGER ON CONVECTION ACROSS SAN BERNARDINO. WILL WATCH THIS OVERNIGHT...BUT MAY NEED TO BUMP THUNDERSTORM/POPS UP IN THIS AREA WITH THE NEXT PACKAGE. MAIN CONCERN CONTINUES TO BE EASTERLY WAVE SHIFTING INTO THE AREA ON TUESDAY. PW VALUES INCREASE TO OVER 1.5 INCHES ALONG THE COLORADO RIVER VALLEY AND ACROSS MUCH OF CLARK/MOHAVE/EASTERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTIES WHILE LI DROPS TO -2 OR LESS AND THETA-E MAXIMUM ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA. THIS PATTERN IS TRENDING TOWARDS A BETTER CHANCE FOR LOCALIZED HEAVY RAIN SHOWERS AND IS COVERED IN THE CURRENT HWO. MOISTURE/INSTABILITY ALSO PUSHES ACROSS MUCH OF THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE CWA TOO. WITH THE INCREASE IN MOISTURE TEMPERATURES WILL MODERATE THE NEXT FEW DAYS WITH DAYTIME HIGHS DROPPING TO NEAR OR SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL BY TUESDAY. .LONG TERM...DIFFERENCE REMAINS WITH RESPECT TO THE HANDLING OF THE INVERTED TROUGH...WITH THE ECMWF EJECTING THE TROUGH TO THE NORTH MUCH QUICKER. THE NAM AND GFS ARE IN MORE AGREEMENT WITH A SLOWER PROGRESSION. AT THIS POINT THE FORECAST REFLECTS A BLEND OF THE TWO DIFFERING SOLUTIONS...WHICH KEEPS THE POPS HIGHER ON WEDNESDAY... PARTICULARLY ACROSS CLARK COUNTY. ONE OTHER ITEM OF CONSIDERATION IS THE POTENTIAL FOR LINGERING CLOUD COVER LEFTOVER FROM TUESDAY NIGHT...EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING CONVECTION TO KEEP CLARK COUNTY ON THE DOWNSIDE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. OTHER MAIN FEATURE IS SLOWING DOWN THE ADVANCING DRIER AIR LATER IN THE WEEK. HAVE NUDGED POPS UP ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AS THE MOISTURE WILL LIKELY LINGER AT LEAST ACROSS THE EASTERN HALF OF THE CWA A BIT LONGER. && .AVIATION...FOR MCCARRAN...DEEPER MOISTURE HAS MADE SOME PROGRESS TODAY...BUT ANY CONVECTION IS ANTICIPATED TO BE ISOLATED AND FAVORED ON THE EASTERN SIDE OF THE KLAS VALLEY THIS EVENING. THE PEACH SPRINGS CORRIDOR WILL BE THE MOST ACTIVE CORRIDOR THIS EVENING WITH THE DAGGETT CORRIDOR POTENTIALLY BECOMING ACTIVE BETWEEN 00Z AND 04Z. CLOUD COVER LOOKS TO INCREASE INTO THE SCT-BKN RANGE BY THIS EVENING. WINDS GUSTS TO AROUND 20KTS WITH POTENTIALLY HIGHER WINDS WITH ANY OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES FROM THUNDERSTORMS. AN INCREASE IN MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY WILL ALLOW FOR INCREASING CHANCES FOR A TSTM OVER THE SPRING MOUNTAINS...SHEEP RANGE ON MONDAY AFTERNOON. FOR THE REST OF SOUTHERN NEVADA...NORTHWEST ARIZONA...AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA...ISOLATED TO SCATTERED TSTMS ACROSS SAN BERNARDINO... SOUTHERN CLARK AND MOHAVE COUNTIES THIS EVENING WITH AREAS OF 3SM BKN060. OTHERWISE SCT-BKN CLOUDS AOA 12K FEET IN THESE LOCATIONS. TSTM CHANCES WILL INCREASE SLIGHTLY ON MONDAY...BUT MORE SO ON TUESDAY ACROSS THE AREA. && .VEF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NV...NONE. AZ...NONE. CA...NONE. && JENSEN/CZYZYK HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/LASVEGAS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 624 AM PDT SUN AUG 3 2008 AZZ001>003-036-CAZ519>527-NVZ014>022-040700- 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- 624 AM PDT SUN AUG 3 2008 /624 AM MST SUN AUG 3 2008/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST ARIZONA...SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA AND SOUTHERN NEVADA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT MOISTURE INCREASING FROM THE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST WILL LEAD TO ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...MAINLY OVER THE AREA SOUTH AND EAST OF INTERSTATE 15. THE PROBABILITY OF HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW FOR THE REST OF THE REGION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY DEEPER MONSOONAL MOISTURE WILL PUSH NORTH INTO THE ENTIRE REGION MONDAY AND TUESDAY BRINGING INCREASING THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE WHICH WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK. THE MAIN THREAT WITH THESE STORMS WILL BE HEAVY RAINFALL AND THE POTENTIAL FOR ISOLATED FLASH FLOODING...ESPECIALLY TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. DRIER SOUTHWEST FLOW IS FORECAST TO DEVELOP OVER SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA AND SOUTHERN NEVADA TOWARD THE END OF THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
448 PM PDT SUN AUG 03 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0258 PM TSTM WND GST TWENTYNINE PALMS 34.14N 116.07W
08/03/2008 M58.00 MPH SAN BERNARDINO CA ASOS
&&
KLABELLEThe Las Vegas radar (KESX), 24 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:49 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Highway 164 was closed from the Highway 95 intersection to the CA-NV state line due to a road washout.
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: 114931.