Cooling temperatures overnight after light rain the previous evening led to isolated dense fog over 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.
Cooling temperatures overnight after light rain the previous evening led to isolated dense fog over 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 Jan 26, 2:41 PM PST, 1 hour 19 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 241 PM PST MON JAN 26 2015 .SYNOPSIS...RAIN CHANCES WILL EXPAND NORTHWARD OUT OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND SOUTHERN ARIZONA TONIGHT...THEN CONTINUE ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN THROUGH TUESDAY. IMPROVING CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY BEFORE MORE UNSETTLED WEATHER RETURNS LATE IN THE WEEK. && .SHORT TERM...THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT BAND OF LIGHT TO OCCASIONAL MODERATE RAIN RUNNING FROM THE WESTERN MOJAVE DESERT OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY SOUTHEAST INTO SOUTHERN MOHAVE COUNTY THIS AFTERNOON. WHEN THE BAND DRIFTED OVER TWENTYNINE PALMS THE OBSERVING STATION REPORTED NEARLY TWO TENTHS OF AN INCH OF RAIN, WHILE BARSTOW REPORTED SIX HUNDREDTHS. THE BAND WILL CONTINUE TO DRIFT NORTH ACROSS INYO...SOUTHERN NYE...CLARK AND CENTRAL MOHAVE COUNTY THIS EVENING. ONCE THIS BAND LIFTS FURTHER NORTH INTO SOUTH CENTRAL NEVADA BY LATE EVENING/EARLY TUESDAY THE NATURE OF THE PRECIPITATION WILL BECOME MORE SHOWERY. THE AIR MASS DOES BECOME SLIGHTLY UNSTABLE ACROSS THE MOJAVE DESERT THIS EVENING BUT NOT ENOUGH TO MENTION THUNDER. ON TUESDAY...MOST OF THE PRECIPITATION WILL BE OCCUR ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL NEVADA AS PRECIPITATION ENDS ACROSS THE MOJAVE DESERT LEADING TO PARTIAL CLEARING. CONSIDERED ADDING PATCHY FOG INTO THE FORECAST FOR SOME AREAS TUESDAY MORNING, BUT DOES NOT LOOK FAVORABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT. WEAK RIDGING WILL BRING A BRIEF BREAK TO OUR PRECIPITATION CHANCES WEDNESDAY BEFORE LEADING EDGE OF NEXT TROUGH BRINGS A SLIGHT CHANCE BACK INTO THE EASTERN SIERRA SLOPES WEDNESDAY NIGHT. DID TRIM BACK ON QPF AMOUNTS AS NOW LOOKS LIKE MOST VALLEY LOCATIONS WILL SEE BETWEEN A TENTH AND A QUARTER OF AN INCH. THE MOUNTAINS WILL RANGE BETWEEN A QUARTER AND A HALF AN INCH. SNOWFALL OF CONSEQUENCE THAT COULD BE AN IMPACT WILL FALL ABOVE 8000 OR 8500 FEET SO NO WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE NEEDED. .LONG TERM...THURSDAY THROUGH MONDAY...MODELS ARE IN REASONABLE AGREEMENT THROUGH THE PERIOD. THERE ARE DIFFERENCES IN TIMING WHICH ARE OF NORMAL MAGNITUDE FOR THE 4-7 DAY TIME FRAME. CONFIDENCE IS SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVERAGE. FOR THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT...WEAK SOUTHERN STREAM TROUGH WILL BE NEAR THE WEST COAST...WITH ENOUGH MOISTURE AVAILABLE TO JUSTIFY SLIGHT CHANCE POPS NEARLY AREAWIDE. THERE ARE ENOUGH DIFFERENCES IN PLACEMENT OF THE BEST MOISTURE /ECMWF FARTHER WEST AND GFS FARTHER EAST FOR EXAMPLE/ TO KEEP POPS BROAD BRUSHED AND NOT FOCUSED ON ANY ONE AREA. FOR FRIDAY...THE TROUGH MOVES SLOWLY EAST...AND THERE IS ENOUGH AGREEMENT IN PLACING THE BEST MOISTURE OVER THE EASTERN CWA TO JUSTIFY RAISING POPS THERE. FOR SATURDAY...A DRYING TREND SHOULD BEGIN TO TAKE HOLD FROM THE NORTHWEST AS HIGH PRESSURE BEGINS TO NOSE IN AND LOW PRESSURE IS SUPPRESSED TO THE SOUTHEAST. THIS IS WHERE THE GREATEST TIMING DIFFERENCE COMES INTO PLAY...AS THE ECMWF IS SLOWER TO MOVE THE LOW AND THE MOISTURE AWAY. EVEN IF THE SLOWER ECMWF IS RIGHT...THE ENTIRE CWA SHOULD BE DRY SUNDAY AND MONDAY. MILD MARITIME AIR WILL BE IN PLACE THROUGH THE PERIOD...WITH TEMPERATURES LIKELY TO BE NEAR OR ABOVE NORMAL EVEN IN THE FACE OF CLOUD COVER. THE EXCEPTION TO THIS WILL BE ANY PLACE WHERE IT RAINS MOST OF THE DAY /MOST LIKELY TO HAPPEN IN MOHAVE COUNTY ON FRIDAY/. BUILDING HIGH PRESSURE AND DECREASING CLOUDS SHOULD BRING A FURTHER WARMING TREND SUNDAY AND MONDAY...WITH STRONG NORTH WINDS POSSIBLE DOWN THE COLORADO RIVER VALLEY SATURDAY AND SUNDAY IN THE WAKE OF THE DEPARTING LOW. && .AVIATION...FOR MCCARRAN...BAND OF RAIN LOOKS LIKE IT WILL REACH THE LAS VEGAS VALLEY FASTER THAN PREVIOUS FORECAST. LIKELY SEE LIGHT RAIN IN THE VCNTY OF THE TERMINAL BY 5 PM WITH ONSET BY 6 PM. THIS BAND WILL QUICKLY LIFT NORTH OF THE VALLEY THIS EVENING WITH RAIN SHOWERS CHANCES CONTINUING THROUGH MUCH OF THE NIGHT. CEILINGS LOOK TO REMAIN AROUND 5K FEET ALTHOUGH THEY COULD LOWER TO AS LOW AS 4K FT FOR A BRIEF PERIOD. CEILINGS WILL IMPROVE TUESDAY MORNING AS THE AREA OF DISTURBED WEATHER SHIFT NORTHEAST INTO UTAH. WIND SPEEDS WILL STAY BELOW 10 KTS THROUGH TUESDAY. FOR THE REST OF SOUTHERN NEVADA...NORTHWEST ARIZONA...AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA...RAIN/LOWER CEILINGS EXPECTED ACROSS THE MOJAVE DESERT AND SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN TONIGHT INTO TUESDAY MORNING. REDUCTIONS IN VISIBILITY AND LOW CIGS EXPECTED IN THE RAINFALL WITH WIDESPREAD MOUNTAIN OBSCURATIONS EXPECTED. SURFACE WINDS WILL REMAIN AT OR BELOW 10 KTS THROUGH TUESDAY. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED BUT SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY SIGNIFICANT RAIN OR SNOW IN THE COMING DAYS. && SHORT TERM/AVIATION...PIERCE LONG TERM...MORGAN FOR MORE FORECAST INFORMATION...SEE US ON OUR WEBPAGE: HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/LASVEGAS OR FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy rain, 1 dense fog. Local standard time, as filed.
Rain, low clouds, and fog led to four car crashes in the Morongo Basin with two (indirect) injuries.
Two spotters reported visibility of 1/4 mile or less along Highway 62 west of Twentynine Palms and also in the Yucca Valley/Yucca Mesa area.
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, January 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: 552037, 551768.