Three people died in Las Vegas of heat-related causes.
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.
Three people died in Las Vegas of heat-related causes.
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 5, 9:26 AM PST, 2 hours 34 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 1026 AM PDT WED AUG 5 2015 .SYNOPSIS...DRY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED AREA WIDE TODAY. MONSOON MOISTURE WILL BEGIN TO PUSH UP THE COLORADO RIVER VALLEY THURSDAY AND SWEPT EAST FRIDAY. THIS WILL RESULT IN CHANCES FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS GENERALLY ALONG AND EAST OF THE COLORADO RIVER THURSDAY...THEN EAST OF LAS VEGAS ON FRIDAY. A FEW ISOLATED STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER THE SIERRA THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. DRY CONDITIONS WILL RETURN THIS WEEKEND. && .UPDATE...A VERY WEAK CRITICAL LAYER DEVELOPED TO THE LEE OF THE SPRING MOUNTAINS THIS MORNING AND HELPED TO TRIGGER WEST TO SOUTHWEST GUSTS OF 20-30 MPH+ ON THE FAR WEST AND SOUTHWEST SIDES OF THE VALLEY. GRIDS WERE UPDATED TO ACCOUNT FOR THIS. I ALSO TWEAKED SKY COVER THROUGH TOMORROW TO ALLOW FOR THE HIGH LEVEL MOISTURE SHOWN TO STREAM ON IN. && .PREVIOUS UPDATE... ISSUED AT 900 AM PDT WED AUG 5 2015 .UPDATE...SATELLITE LOOP SHOWS A BAND OF FAIRLY THICK HIGH CLOUDS STREAMING INTO/ACROSS ROUGHLY THE NORTHWEST HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA. THE GFS INDICATES THIS BAND OF CLOUDS PERSISTING MUCH OF THE DAY. I UPDATED TO INCREASE SKY COVER TODAY IN THAT AREA. && .AVIATION...FOR MCCARRAN...GUSTY SOUTHWESTERLY WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO PERSIST THROUGH THE DAY TODAY. OUTSIDE OF WINDS NO SIGNIFICANT WEATHER IS EXPECTED THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON. REMOTE CHANCES FOR SHOWER/THUNDERSTORMS WILL RETURN THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING. FOR THE REST OF SOUTHERN NEVADA...NORTHWEST ARIZONA...AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA...WINDS FAVORING A SOUTH/SOUTHWEST DIRECTION ARE EXPECTED TODAY...GUSTY MUCH OF THE DAY. OUTSIDE OF WINDS NO SIGNIFICANT WEATHER IS EXPECTED TODAY. CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL INCREASE MAINLY ALONG AND EAST OF THE COLORADO RIVER THURSDAY. && .PREV DISCUSSION... 157 AM PDT WED AUG 5 2015 .SHORT TERM...THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT. THURSDAY...AS THE AFOREMENTIONED WAVE MOVES EAST OF THE REGION ON THURSDAY THE DOOR WILL OPEN FOR SOME LOW TO MODERATE GRADE MONSOON MOISTURE TO PUSH ITS WAY NORTH UP THE COLORADO RIVER VALLEY. A WEAK VORT LOBE ROTATING NORTH AROUND HIGH PRESSURE OVER NEW MEXICO COULD AID IN TRIGGERING CONVECTION OVER OUR FORECAST AREA BY LATE THURSDAY AFTERNOON EAST OF THE COLORADO RIVER VALLEY. THIS FEATURE ALONG WITH THE ADVECTION OF MOISTURE NORTHWARD MAY KEEP THUNDERSTORM CHANCES GOING DURING THURSDAY NIGHT...MAINLY EAST OF A RACHEL-MT CHARLESTON- ESSEX LINE. ADJUSTMENTS WERE MADE TO INCREASE THE AREAL EXTENT OF PRECIP CHANCES FOR THIS TIME PERIOD. ALSO WORTH NOTING IS THAT FARTHER WEST OVER ESMERALDA AND NORTHERN INYO COUNTIES THERE WILL BE ISOLATED CHANCES FOR CONVECTION DUE TO DIFFLUENT FLOW AHEAD OF A MORE VIGOROUS CLOSED LOW THAT WILL BE MOVING JUST SOUTH OF THE BAY AREA BY 12Z FRIDAY. FRIDAY...THE CLOSED LOW NEAR THE BAY AREA WILL LIFT NORTHEAST INTO NORTHERN NEVADA BY FRIDAY NIGHT...BRINGING STRONGER SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW (INCLUDING SURFACE WINDS) TO THE REGION FRIDAY. THIS WILL ACCOMPLISH TWO THINGS. FIRST...IT SHOULD EFFECTIVELY DRY THE REGION OUT BY LATE FRIDAY NIGHT. MORE IMPORTANTLY IT WILL ACT TO ENHANCE A MOIST-DRY BOUNDARY ORIENTED NORTH-NORTHWEST TO SOUTH-SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE REGION DURING THE DAY FRIDAY. JUST WHERE THIS BOUNDARY SETS UP WILL BE CRITICAL TO THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE ON FRIDAY. CURRENT CONSENSUS PLACES THIS BOUNDARY OVER WESTERN LINCOLN AND CLARK COUNTIES AT 12Z FRIDAY...OVER LAS VEGAS BY 18Z...AND JUST EAST OF MESQUITE BY 00Z. THIS MEANS THAT ANY CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS IN LAS VEGAS WILL BE LARGELY OVER BY LATE MORNING. TO THE EAST OF THIS BOUNDARY CHANCES FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS INCREASE DRAMATICALLY...PARTICULARLY DURING THE AFTERNOON ACROSS EASTERN LINCOLN COUNTY...FAR EASTERN CLARK COUNTY AS WELL AS CENTRAL AND NORTHERN MOHAVE COUNTY. STORM MOTION OF 25-30 MPH WILL SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE THE THREAT OF FLASH FLOODING FROM INDIVIDUAL STORMS...HOWEVER TRAINING STORMS WILL NEED TO BE WATCHED. INSTEAD STRONG/SEVERE WINDS AND HAIL COULD BE THE LARGER THREATS WITH STORMS...ESPECIALLY ACROSS LINCOLN AND NORTH EAST CLARK WHERE 0-6KM SHEAR VALUES OF 25-40 KTS WILL BE IN PLACE THANKS TO A JET STREAK ASSOCIATED WITH THE CLOSED LOW. STORMS ARE LIKELY TO BE DISCRETE (RATHER THAN A SOLID LINE) DUE TO THE ORIENTATION OF THE DEEP LAYER SHEAR TO THE MOISTURE BOUNDARY. AGAIN...THIS LINE IS EXPECTED TO SHIFT EAST RAPIDLY FRIDAY AFTERNOON INTO FRIDAY EVENING...WITH ACTIVITY ENDING BETWEEN 03Z AND 06Z SATURDAY. CHANGES WERE MADE TO THE GOING FORECAST TO ACCOUNT FOR THIS PROGRESSION...INCLUDING ADDING A SLIGHT CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION IN LAS VEGAS ON FRIDAY MORNING. .LONG TERM...SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. A DRY SOUTHWEST FLOW WILL BE OVER THE ENTIRE FORECAST AREA SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY. LATEST MODELS CONTINUE TO INDICATE SOUTHERLY FLOW WILL DEVELOP LATE MONDAY, BRINGING MOISTURE NORTHWARD INTO MAINLY MOHAVE COUNTY. SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT WILL BE POSSIBLE TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING ACROSS NORTHWEST ARIZONA. SOUTHERLY FLOW APPEARS TO STICK AROUND THROUGH WEDNESDAY. THERE IS UNCERTAINTY IN JUST HOW FAR WEST THAT MOISTURE MAY PUSH, AS MODELS DIFFER ON THE POSITION OF A MID-WEEK WEST COAST TROUGH. WILL SIDE WITH THE NAEFS ENSEMBLE MEAN AND KEEP SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM CHANCES GENERALLY CONFINED TO MOHAVE COUNTY FOR WEDNESDAY, BUT THOSE CHANCES MAY EXPAND WEST. AS FOR TEMPERATURES, NEAR TO SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL VALUES ARE EXPECTED, WITH BREEZY SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST WINDS EACH AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. && UPDATE/AVIATION...HARRISON/STACHELSKI SHORT TERM...WOLCOTT LONG TERM...PADDOCK 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 heat. Local standard time, as filed.
Three people died in Las Vegas of heat-related causes.
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 | 2015-08-05 | 66 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Indirect |
| Heat, Las Vegas Valley | 2015-08-05 | 70 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
| Heat, Las Vegas Valley | 2015-08-06 | 80 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, August 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: 594672.