A potent spring storm system brought strong winds and thunderstorms to much of the Mojave Desert.
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 potent spring storm system brought strong winds and thunderstorms to much of the Mojave Desert.
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 Apr 25, 1:00 AM PST, 7 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 200 AM PDT SAT APR 25 2015 .SYNOPSIS...COOL AND UNSETTLED WEATHER IS EXPECTED TODAY AS A STRONG TROUGH MOVES THROUGH THE AREA. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED ACROSS THE SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN AND MOHAVE COUNTY WITH SCATTERED TO ISOLATED SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE ELSEWHERE. VERY STRONG WINDS ARE ANTICIPATED ACROSS THE WESTERN MOJAVE DESERT CREATING AREAS OF BLOWING DUST AND HAZE. IMPROVING CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED SUNDAY WITH A WARMING TREND COMMENCING DURING THE WORKWEEK. && .SHORT TERM...THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT. VIGOROUS SHORTWAVE CURRENTLY MOVING THROUGH NORTHERN CALIFORNIA WILL BE THE MAIN PLAYER IN OUR WEATHER TODAY BRINGING AREAS OF HIGH WINDS AND SHOWER POTENTIAL. SHOWERS WILL BE ON THE INCREASE DURING THE DAY ACROSS THE SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN AND ESPECIALLY LINCOLN COUNTY WHERE A WETTING RAIN IS LIKELY. SOME THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED AS WELL AS MARGINAL INSTABILITY WILL BE IN PLACE IN COMBINATION WITH STRONG FRONTOGENTIC FORCING. MEANWHILE ACROSS THE WESTERN MOJAVE DESERT...STRONG WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO BLOW EARLY SATURDAY BEFORE INTENSIFYING BY MID-MORNING. WIND GUSTS EXCEEDING 60 MPH ARE LIKELY ACROSS MUCH OF THE WESTERN DESERTS BY SATURDAY AFTERNOON WITH LOCALIZED GUSTS TO 70 MPH POSSIBLE. THIS MAGNITUDE OF WIND CAN CAUSE STRUCTURAL DAMAGE AND MAKE FOR DANGEROUS DRIVING AND FLYING CONDITIONS IN THE AREA DUE TO STRONG CROSS WINDS AND AREAS OF BLOWING DUST. WINDY CONDITIONS WILL EXTEND EAST ACROSS MOST OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY...SOUTHERN CLARK COUNTY...AND MOHAVE COUNTY BUT WILL BE LESS SEVERE THAN ACROSS THE FAR WESTERN DESERT. BY LATE IN THE AFTERNOON A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL PUSH SOUTH ACROSS THE REGION...SOME SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE AS THIS MOVES THROUGH EVEN ACROSS THE DESERT VALLEYS. BEST CHANCE FOR SHOWERS IN THE LAS VEGAS VALLEY WILL BE IN THE 5PM TO 10PM TIME FRAME AS THE COLD FRONT PUSHES THROUGH THE AREA. BY LATE SATURDAY EVENING THE TROUGH WILL SHIFT EASTWARD INTO ARIZONA WITH PRECIPITATION BECOMING LIMITED TO MOHAVE COUNTY. WINDS ACROSS THE WESTERN MOJAVE WILL GRADUALLY EASE BUT GUSTY CONDITIONS MAY LINGER INTO THE EARLY MORNING HOURS. .LONG TERM...SUNDAY MORNING THROUGH FRIDAY. AT THE START OF THE LONG TERM PERIOD, OUR DEEP TROUGH THAT IS PROVIDING THE SHOWER CHANCES AND WINDY CONDITIONS WILL BE JUST EAST OF THE NEVADA-UTAH BORDER AND CONTINUE TO PUSH EAST. ANY SHOWERS WOULD BE OVER EXTREME EASTERN LINCOLN COUNTY AND EASTERN MOHAVE COUNTY EARLY IN THE DAY BEFORE DRY CONDITIONS SET IN. EXPECT GUSTY NORTH WINDS OF 20-30 MPH ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA, WITH HIGHER WIND SPEEDS LIKELY ALONG THE COLORADO RIVER VALLEY. WILL KEEP AN EYE ON THE POTENTIAL FOR A WIND HEADLINE FOR THE RIVER ZONES. BREEZY NORTH WINDS WILL LINGER INTO MONDAY, YET LIGHTER THAN SUNDAY. STRONGEST GUSTS WILL REMAIN ALONG THE COLORADO RIVER VALLEY. SUNDAY AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE TO RUN BELOW NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR, THEN TREND NEAR NORMAL FOR MONDAY. WINDS WILL BE WEAKER AND TREND TOWARD TYPICAL DIURNAL DIRECTIONS TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY AS HIGH PRESSURE FULLY TAKES CONTROL. TEMPERATURES WILL ALSO TREND MUCH WARMER THROUGH THE WEEK, WITH AFTERNOON HIGHS CLIMBING ROUGHLY 10 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL FOR THE LATTER HALF OF THE WEEK. THERE REMAINS SOME DIFFERENCE IN STRENGTH AND TIMING, BUT MODELS CONTINUE TO INDICATE A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM MOVING THROUGH THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST /PERHAPS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA/ LATE THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. SOME BREEZY SOUTHWEST WINDS ARE POSSIBLE THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND AGAIN FRIDAY. BREEZY CONDITIONS MAY LAST INTO THE WEEKEND, AS SOME WEAK TROUGHING LINGERS ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN. FOR NOW, IT APPEARS ANY MOISTURE WITH THIS TROUGH IS EXTREMELY LIMITED AND SHOULD STAY NORTH OF THE FORECAST AREA. && .AVIATION...FOR MCCARRAN...GUSTY SOUTH WINDS EXPECTED AGAIN TODAY WITH SUSTAINED WINDS OF 15-25KTS EXPECTED AFTER 15Z WITH GUSTS AS HIGH AS 35 KTS. SCT-BKN CLOUDS EXPECTED MUCH OF THE DAY WITH A COLD FRONT EXPECTED TO MOVE THROUGH IN THE LATE AFTERNOON BETWEEN 00Z-04Z RESULTING IN A WIND SHIFT TO NORTHWESTERLY WINDS OF 15 TO 20KTS BEFORE GRADUALLY EASING SATURDAY NIGHT. SHOWERS POSSIBLE AT THE AIRFIELD BETWEEN 23Z AND 04Z WITH CIGS AROUND 8K EXPECTED. IMPROVEMENT IN SKY CONDITIONS EXPECTED AFTER 4Z. .FOR THE REST OF SOUTHERN NEVADA...NORTHWEST ARIZONA...AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA...UNSETTLED WEATHER EXPECTED ACROSS THE REGION TODAY WITH STRONG AND GUSTY WEST-SOUTHWEST WINDS EXPECTED ACROSS THE MOJAVE DESERT EASTWARD INTO NORTHWEST ARIZONA. WINDS OF 20 TO 30 KTS WITH GUSTS TO 40 EXPECTED WITH EVEN STRONGER WINDS IN THE KDAG AREA AND FAR WESTERN MOJAVE DESERT WHERE GUSTS WILL EXCEED 50KTS. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST LIKELY WITH DANGEROUS CROSSWINDS ON NORTH-SOUTH ORIENTED RUNWAYS. FURTHER NORTH WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND TSTORMS LIKELY ACROSS THE SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN MAINLY NORTH OF KLAS THROUGH 00Z. SHOWERS EXPAND ACROSS NORTHWEST ARIZONA AND FAR SOUTHERN NEVADA AFTER 00Z AS A COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH AND WINDS SHIFT TO THE NORTHWEST. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...SPOTTERS SHOULD REPORT ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. && SHORT TERM/AVIATION...OUTLER LONG TERM...PADDOCK FOR MORE FORECAST INFORMATION...SEE US ON OUR WEBPAGE: HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/LASVEGAS OR FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
The Edwards AFB radar (KEYX), 129 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:43 UTC.
1 high wind, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
The peak gust occurred at Bicycle Lake Airfield (KBYS).
Highway 178 was closed south of Badwater Basin due to flooding.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in California, April 2015
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: 565896, 565897.