A monsoon moisture push which began on July 27th continued into August 5th, bringing considerable flash flooding and isolated 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 monsoon moisture push which began on July 27th continued into August 5th, bringing considerable flash flooding and isolated 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 Jul 31, 9:42 PM MST, 2 hours 48 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 942 PM PDT SUN JUL 31 2016 .SYNOPSIS...Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected through the upcoming week...especially over the eastern half of the area through mid week then mainly Mohave County late in the week. The western portions of the area will be increasingly dry as the wears on. Temperatures will remain near or slightly below seasonal normals. && .UPDATE...Made some tweaks to the 11 pm - 5 am POP grids based on accelerated outflow boundary pushing south through Lake Mead Natl Recreation Area and Mohave County. && .PREV UPDATE...628 PM PDT SUN JUL 31 2016 .UPDATE...Last few runs of the HRRR showing more consistency with current storms over Lincoln County and southwest Utah shifting southeast the rest of this evening and impacting northeast Clark and northern Mohave County into the early morning hours of Monday. There is the potential of development along outflows as far west as Las Vegas and the Spring Mountains. Therefore increased POPs in the aforementioned areas. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...Afternoon round of thunderstorms has dissipated and expect a southeast wind around 10 kts this evening. Mormon Mesa and Peach Spring corridors most likely impacted by thunderstorms into the early morning hours of Monday. Lower confidence in the forecast between 06z-10z tonight. During that time there is the potential for gusty outflow winds from the northeast with a thunderstorms possibly developing. Forecast will be updated as conditions develop and become more certain. Otherwise, skies are expected to be partly to mostly cloudy with cloud bases generally above 10kft. For the rest of southern Nevada...northwest Arizona...and southeast California...Strongest thunderstorms expected across Lincoln, northeast Clark and northern Mohave County tonight. Otherwise...south-southeast winds expected with gusts to 20 knots. Sct clouds at or above 10k feet with convective turbulence near thunderstorms. && .PREV DISCUSSION...245 PM PDT SUN JUL 31 2016 .SHORT TERM...Through Wednesday night. The 19Z (latest available) HRRR forecasts storms developing this evening in Lincoln, NE Clark and northern Mohave counties and essentially combining and moving south through Mohave County overnight. Previous runs showed this to some extent but also had storms moving into southern Mohave County this evening from convection over central Arizona. If the storm track/intensity forecast is correct for the activity moving north to south, much of Lake Mead and points throughout Mohave County could see intense rainfall. Will need to monitor future model runs to see if this becomes a trend or just one of the various iterations of storm formation and track visualized by the HRRR. Tomorrow, forecasted moisture is down and instability is much weaker although sufficient for more isolated to scattered thunderstorm coverage from Lincoln County down through portions of Clark County and in Mohave County. A few could form over the Sierra as well. The forecast for Tuesday could be interesting...or much of the same depending on the model. The GFS brings an easterly wave to southern Mohave County Tuesday afternoon and this is supported by the ECMWF which gens up a closed circulation over the Phoenix area within the easterly wave. This is consistent with the previous nights model solutions...only a little sooner. The NAM now reaches out to this far in the forecast and does not show this feature...instilling some doubt in overall forecast confidence. By Wednesday, the forecast becomes even less distinct as the GFS lifts the wave up through Mohave County while the ECMWF washes it out and the NAM has an inverted feature over Mohave County. Bottom line is a low confidence forecast and broad brushed pops for now as many things could change between now and then. Temperatures through mid week are forecast to be near or below normal but could end up being well below normal if the easterly wave idea pans out. .LONG TERM...Thursday through Saturday... In order to blend with neighboring offices a little better, minor changes were made to the POP forecast in the extended otherwise little to no change to other parameters. The following is from the previous discussion. Biggest feature of interest will be an inverted trough lifting northward into Arizona late Tuesday through Thursday. This feature will drive some very rich moisture into Arizona along with considerable cloud cover. Being that our forecast area is on the west edge of this, it may enhance our potential by easing the cloud cover limitations on destabilization that will be more problematic further east. The feature will bear watching for the potential of flash flooding. Otherwise...continued thunderstorm activity through the week with our eastern areas most favored. Temperatures through the period will remain near seasonal normals. && .FIRE WEATHER...Scattered thunderstorms are possible through the night with locally heavy rainfall, gusty winds, and lightning. Most storms are expected to be wet. Temperatures will be near seasonal normals and with the added monsoon moisture provide an increase in both afternoon and morning humidity levels. Similar conditions expected throughout the week. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report significant weather according to standard operating procedures. && Update...Pierce Discussion...Salmen For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: http://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
The Cedar City radar (KICX), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 07:29 UTC.
6 flash flood, 3 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Ten to 12 inches of water flowed over the Central Street crossing of Short Creek.
Eight homes were flooded in Dolan Springs.
Flowing water covered portions of Beale Street and Andy Devine Avenue, as well as the nearby sidewalks.
Small rocks and debris washed into the intersection of Jamaica Blvd and McCulloch Blvd.
Three to four feet of standing water covered Interstate 40.
The Sacramento Wash flooded the Oatman Topock Highway.
Hackberry Road was closed from Highway 93 to Route 66 due to flooding.
DW Ranch Road was closed due to flooding.
Pump Station Road, Benegas Road, and Signal Road were all closed due to flooding of the Big Sandy River.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arizona in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Arizona, August 2016
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: 649577, 649578, 649579, 649580, 649583, 649584, 649587, 649588, 649591.