A push of monsoon moisture fueled thunderstorms over the Mojave Desert. Some storms produced severe weather and flash flooding.
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 push of monsoon moisture fueled thunderstorms over the Mojave Desert. Some storms produced severe weather and flash flooding.
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 12, 9:00 AM PST, 4 hours 11 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 1000 AM PDT TUE AUG 12 2014 .SYNOPSIS...MONSOON MOISTURE PUSHING IN FROM THE SOUTHEAST WILL RESULT IN INCREASED THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE THROUGH WEDNESDAY. DRIER AIR WILL ONCE AGAIN GRADUALLY MOVE IN FROM THE SOUTHWEST STARTING LATE WEDNESDAY WITH THUNDERSTORM CHANCES CONFINED TO MOHAVE COUNTY THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. SEASONAL TEMPERATURES AND AREA-WIDE DRY CONDITIONS RETURN FOR THE WEEKEND. && .UPDATE...WE HAVE ONE WAVE OVER SOUTHERN NEVADA PRESENTLY PRODUCING ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS/LIGHT SHOWERS OVER LINCOLN/CLARK COUNTIES. THIS FEATURE WILL CONTINUE NORTH THROUGH THE REST OF THE DAY, WHILE WE EXPECT ADDITIONAL CONVECTION TO FIRE SOUTH OF LAS VEGAS AND MOVE NORTH. MAIN FEATURE OF INTEREST THIS MORNING WAS THE INVERTED TROUGH OVER NORTHERN SONORA/SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA. THE INVERTED TROUGH WAS PROVIDING THE DYNAMICS FOR THE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS SOUTHWEST ARIZONA THIS MORNING. 12Z GFS/NAM SHIFT THE TROUGH NORTH ACROSS WESTERN ARIZONA TONIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING WHICH SHOULD PROVIDE THE DYNAMICS FOR NOCTURNAL THUNDERSTORMS. MORNING LAS VEGAS SOUNDING PW VALUES JUMPED UP TO 1.36 INCHES WHILE YUMA WAS SLIGHTLY OVER 2 INCHES. THE VEGAS VALUE WAS 176 PCT OF NORMAL. HEAVY RAIN WILL BE THE CONCERN FOR THE REST OF TODAY AND TONIGHT ESPECIALLY WITH DYNAMICS IN PLAY. AREA COVERED BY CURRENT FLASH FLOOD WATCH JUSTIFIED. && .AVIATION...FOR MCCARRAN...LIGHT AND VARIABLE WIND LATE THIS MORNING THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON. CONVECTION SHOULD IMPACT MAINLY THE BEATTY...MORMON MESA AND PEACH SPRINGS CORRIDORS THROUGH THIS EVENING. THERE WILL BE ANOTHER CHANCE OF SHOWERS OR STORMS WITHIN THE VICINITY OF THE TERMINAL TODAY...WHICH COULD BRING GUSTY AND ERRATIC WINDS. FOR THE REST OF SOUTHERN NEVADA...NORTHWEST ARIZONA...AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA...SCATTERED-BROKEN CLOUDS ALONG WITH ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS ALL OF SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA...SOUTHERN NEVADA AND NORTHWEST ARIZONA TODAY. WINDS WILL FAVOR TYPICAL DIURNAL WIND PATTERNS THROUGH WEDNESDAY...EXCEPT NEAR THUNDERSTORMS. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT/... THE SYNOPTIC PATTERN THIS MORNING CONTINUES TO FEATURE A CLOSED UPPER LOW OFF THE CALIFORNIA COAST AND A RIDGE CENTERED AROUND THE FOUR CORNERS REGION. SOUTHERLY FLOW ALOFT ACROSS OUR REGION HAS PUSHED ANOMALOUSLY HIGH MOISTURE OUR WAY. COMBINE THIS MOISTURE WITH LARGE-SCALE FORCING TODAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY WILL MEAN A PROLONGED PERIOD OF SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM CHANCES. ONCE AGAIN...UPPER LEVEL FORCING AND ABUNDANT MOISTURE HAVE COMBINED TO KEEP SHOWERS AND A FEW STORMS GOING THROUGH THE EARLY MORNING HOURS. THIS TIME ROUGHLY CONCENTRATING FROM NYE COUNTY SOUTHWARD TO SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY AND POINTS EAST...WITH MOHAVE COUNTY SEEING THE BEST COVERAGE OF LIGHT TO MODERATE SHOWERS. WHERE IT RAINS THIS MORNING WILL SET THE STAGE FOR HIGHLY PRECIP EFFICIENT STORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...WITH HIGH SUBCLOUD LAYER RELATIVE HUMIDITY. AN INVERTED TROUGH MOVING WEST ACROSS SOUTHERN ARIZONA WILL MOVE INTO SOUTHWEST ARIZONA LATER THIS AFTERNOON. THE INVERTED TROUGH WILL THEN INTERACT WITH MORE WESTERLY FLOW ASSOCIATED WITH THE LOW OFF THE CALIFORNIA COAST AND LIFT NORTH ACROSS WESTERN ARIZONA TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. THERE IS AN ANOMALOUS MOISTURE AXIS STRETCHED ALONG THE COLORADO RIVER NORTHWARD TO AT LEAST CENTRAL CLARK COUNTY AND A GOOD FORCING LINE THAT WILL SET UP FROM LINCOLN COUNTY SOUTHWARD THROUGH EASTERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY WITH THE ARRIVAL OF THE LARGE-SCALE DYNAMICS. SO...HAVE EXTENDED THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH FARTHER WEST TO INCLUDE EASTERN SAN BERN...ALL OF CLARK...AND LINCOLN COUNTIES. HAVE ALSO EXTENDED THE VALID TIME THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS...AS CONVECTION IS LIKELY TO CONTINUE...AIDED BY LARGE-SCALE FORCING AND CROSSING SURFACE OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES. THE WATCH MAY HAVE TO BE EXTENDED THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING...BUT DID NOT WANT TO DO THAT AT THIS TIME. BELIEVE THE FOCUS FOR HEAVY RAIN SHOULD SHIFT EAST AND THAT CUTOFF LINE REMAINS UNCERTAIN AT THIS TIME. MODELS DO BRING A SHARP DRY LINE INTO AT LEAST THE CENTER OF THE FORECAST AREA WEDNESDAY. WIND SHEAR WILL BE A FACTOR AS WELL...SO WE COULD SEE A FEW STRONGER STORMS ALONG THAT DRY LINE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. MODELS STILL DIFFER ON THE EXACT LOCATION OF THIS MOISTURE GRADIENT...BUT GENERALLY FROM LINCOLN COUNTY SOUTHWARD THROUGH CLARK AND EASTERN SAN BERN IS LOOKING LIKELY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. DRY AIR WILL CONTINUE TO PUNCH EAST WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY. WILL KEEP ANY SHOWER OR THUNDERSTORM CHANCE CONFINED TO BASICALLY THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF MOHAVE COUNTY ON THURSDAY. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR THROUGH THE SHORT TERM PERIOD. .LONG TERM...FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY...DEEPER MOISTURE ASSOCIATED WITH THE MONSOONAL FLOW PUSHES EAST OF THE AREA AND THUNDERSTORM CHANCES DWINDLE BY THE WEEKEND. MODELS HINT AT A WEAK RETURN OF MOISTURE TO START THE WORK WEEK BUT CONFINE IT TO MAINLY THE SOUTHEASTERN PORTION OF MOHAVE COUNTY. WITH LESS EXPECTED CLOUD COVER AND A DRIER AIRMASS IN PLACE, TEMPERATURES SHOULD RETURN TO SEASONAL LEVELS FOR A WARM AND DRY MID AUGUST WEEKEND. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...SPOTTERS SHOULD REPORT INSTANCES OF FLASH FLOODING...STRONG GUSTY WINDS...HAIL...AND BLOWING DUST TODAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. && UPDATE...PIERCE SHORT TERM/AVIATION...PADDOCK LONG TERM...SALMEN FOR MORE FORECAST INFORMATION...SEE US ON OUR WEBPAGE: HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/LASVEGAS OR FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
The Las Vegas radar (KESX), 57 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:29 UTC.
6 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Nipton Road was washed out, and a big rig was stuck in the wash.
Thunderstorm winds blew the roofs off two restaurants, damaged several roofs of homes, blew down some signs and at least 50 power poles, and blew down several trees in and around Needles. One person was injured when a roof collapsed.
A series of thunderstorms caused street flooding in Needles. The first storm in the series caused the wind damage documented in a separate entry.
Highway 95 was closed from 5 Mile Road to Interstate 40 due to flood damage. One swift water rescue occurred at mile marker 56.
Goffs Road and Highway 95 were both impassable due to flooding.
Water and rocks flowed swiftly across Highway 95 between mile markers 70 and 71.
Highway 62 was flooded near the Highway 95 intersection.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in California, August 2014
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: 538848, 538849, 538851, 538852, 538853, 538854, 538855.