A wet Pacific storm brought heavy rain and localized flooding to the lower elevations of the Mojave Desert.
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The episode as NWS VEF wrote it up.
A wet Pacific storm brought heavy rain and localized flooding to the lower elevations 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 Dec 24, 3:55 AM MST, 3 hours 5 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 255 AM PST Sat Dec 24 2016 .SYNOPSIS...A strong low pressure system will move east across the region today and this evening. This will result in widespread rain and high elevation snow with areas of gusty winds. Precipitation chances will be winding down from west to east late this afternoon and tonight. Dry and cool conditions can be expected Christmas Day and Monday before warming takes place for the middle of the week. && .SHORT TERM...Today through Sunday Precipitation associated with the approaching upper trough has been widespread with occasional moderate rainfall recorded. The trough axis was moving slowly across California early this morning and will move into Nevada during the day. Widespread precipitation will continue this morning across much of the area except for perhaps Inyo and Esmeralda Counties as the forcing starts shifting east. The focus for precipitation by this afternoon will be mainly across Lincoln and Mohave Counties where we should see widespread liquid equivalent amounts around or even over an inch. There is a good chance of some minor nuisance flooding or ponding of water but I do not think rainfall rates will be sufficient to justify a flash flood watch. The winter storm warning for Lincoln County and the Spring Mountains and Sheep Range still looks good. Snow may be winding down in the Sierra and White Mountains this morning with mainly just some snow showers later this morning and this afternoon. Will keep the warning/advisory going for now but day shift may need to cancel early. I have some concern about snow in Mohave County but based on temperatures and snow levels I am forecasting, significant snow amounts remain limited to the higher peaks and in areas of low impact on the Northwest Plateau. In addition to precipitation today, there will be areas of gusty winds. Latest MOS guidance is pretty strong for Daggett and Twenty Nine Palms and I chose to go with a wind advisory from 7 am this morning to 10 pm this evening. This timing may not be perfect for both areas as winds should increase sooner around Barstow-Daggett but possibly persist longer in the Twenty Nine Palms area. There is some concern about strong north/northwest winds developing in Esmeralda and central Nye County but I think they will remain just below advisory levels overall. The upper trough axis will shift into Utah tonight. Precipitation will still be a good possibility across Lincoln, Mohave and northeast Clark but the rest of the area should see improving conditions. Lingering moisture and some energy diving down the back side of the exiting trough will keep a slight chance of showers over northern Mohave County Christmas Day but the rest of the area will be cool and dry. High temperatures look to be about 10 degrees below normal. .LONG TERM...Sunday night through Saturday The period starts out with an upper low over the northern High Plains with additional shortwave energy working through Utah and Colorado Sunday night. Meanwhile, a small compact upper low was digging south off the California coast. This upper low is progged to remain offshore through Thursday meaning the area will experience dry weather along with warming temperatures. Lower confidence in the Friday and Saturday periods this morning as latest model runs now want to bring upper low inland through the Southwest States. This is a big change from model runs all week which kept low well offshore before weakening it. Decided to introduce a slight chance of showers to the higher terrain of Clark, Mohave and San Bernardino Counties Friday and Friday night which is more in line with the GFS solution versus the more aggressive ECMWF. && .AVIATION...for McCarran...South/southwest winds mainly at 12-17 kts today and much of tonight with gusts occasionally to 25 kts. Light rain will continue early this morning with cigs near 5 kft. Cigs could drop to 3 kft at times. These conditions could linger into early afternoon before cigs lift around 21z. There could still be cigs 6-7 kft at times late this afternoon through tonight but precipitation chances should be over by about 02z. For the rest of southern Nevada...northwest Arizona...and southeast California...Widespread low cigs can be expected today. Rain and snow will persist across much of the area today although conditions should improve some across Inyo County and western San Bernardino County. Conditions will gradually improve tonight but precipitation chances and lower cigs will probably linger across Lincoln, Mohave and northeast Clark. Much of the area will have gusty west to southwest winds today into this evening before decreasing. However, Esmeralda, Nye and Inyo Counties will see gusty northerly winds develop today, continuing tonight. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report rain and/or snow amounts along with any road closures, snow levels, or other weather-related impacts through Tonight. && Short Term/Aviation: Harrison Long Term: Pierce 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.
2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
The Sacramento Wash flooded the Oatman Topock Highway.
Hackberry Road was closed between I-40 and Highway 93 due to flooding.
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, December 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: 667732, 667733.