A brief push of moisture into northwest Arizona led to isolated flash flooding.
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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 brief push of moisture into northwest Arizona led to isolated 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 9, 2:00 PM MST, 4 hours earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 200 PM PDT TUE AUG 9 2016 .SYNOPSIS...Tropical moisture will bring a risk of flash flooding to Mohave County through Wednesday, while dry weather persists farther west. Shifting winds will move the moisture away to the east beginning on Thursday, with dry and hotter weather expected over the weekend. && .SHORT TERM...Through Friday night. Juicy surface air has made its way into central and southern Mohave County as evidenced by surface dewpoints, although they have been decreasing a bit during the afternoon as the mixed layer deepened. Cloud development has been lagging somewhat, with cumulus only beginning to develop over far southern Mohave County around noon. Despite the late start, will leave the Flash Flood Watch in place for central and southern Mohave County since this is not likely to be a strictly diurnally driven event. The moisture will push farther north overnight, bringing the potential for heavy rain to northern Mohave County as well. Expanded the Flash Flood Watch to that area for tomorrow. As noted by previous shifts, one of the biggest challenges will be pinpointing the sharp cutoff of precip chances on the western edge of the moisture tongue. Greatest westward extent looks like it should occur on Wednesday, with precip chances cutting off roughly halfway between the Colorado River and a line from Las Vegas to Essex. By Thursday, low pressure in the Pacific Northwest progresses eastward along the Canadian border, turning our mid level flow more westerly and beginning to push the moisture away to the east. Precip chances should decrease on Thursday and then be completely gone on Friday. Along with the drier air moving in, high pressure also builds overhead on Friday, bringing a significant warming trend. .LONG TERM [Saturday through Monday night]... High pressure takes control for the weekend, with drying and warming trends expected. The long term models diverge a bit for the work week, with the GFS bringing additional shortwave troughs through, and the Euro strengthening the high over the southern Great Basin. The end results for the Euro would be very hot conditions, with moisture potentially seeping back into southern portions of the area. The GFS solution would be slightly less hot but very dry and breezy. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...Gusty southerly winds this afternoon will subside a bit tonight, and meander between southwest and southeast. Another day of south to southwesterly winds can be expected tomorrow. Areas of smoke or haze aloft are possible through the period, otherwise no significant weather expected. For the rest of southern Nevada...northwest Arizona...and southeast California...Thunderstorm chances will increase over southern Mohave County tonight and Wednesday. The remainder of the area will remain dry with breezy southwest winds 15- 25 kts. Reduced visibilities are possible across portions of San Bernardino County due to smoke from the Pilot Fire near Hesperia. && .FIRE WEATHER...There will be chances for showers and thunderstorms across Mohave County through Thursday. How far west the moisture extends is still in question, but its possible that moisture could reach eastern Clark and San Bernardino Counties by Thursday. The remainder of the area will remain dry with breezy afternoon south to southwest winds 15-25 mph. Dry and hotter weather returns over the weekend. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report significant weather according to standard operating procedures. && Short Term...Morgan Long Term/Aviation...Steele 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), 138 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:00 UTC.
2 flash flood, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
The last three to four miles of Diamond Creek Road were flooded and covered with debris. The Diamond Creek USGS station recorded 2.56 inches of rain in three hours.
Buck and Doe Road was flooded.
Dime to penny size hail fell in Peach Springs.
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: 649664, 649666, 649667.