A cold front passing through the Mojave Desert brought a band of thunderstorms well ahead of it, and strong winds with dust storm conditions immediately ahead of it.
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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 cold front passing through the Mojave Desert brought a band of thunderstorms well ahead of it, and strong winds with dust storm conditions immediately ahead of it.
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 Sep 22, 3:20 AM MST, 2 hours 40 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 320 AM PDT THU SEP 22 2016 .SYNOPSIS...A strong trough moving through the region will bring widespread strong winds and enhanced fire danger to the region into tonight. Showers and thunderstorms with heavy rainfall will be possible across mainly northwest Arizona as well. Cool temperatures will persist through Friday before returning to near normal over the weekend. && .SHORT TERM...Through Friday night. A strong area of low pressure currently over northern California will continue to move southeast through the day. This will lead to a rather active weather day across the southern and eastern areas of the CWA through the afternoon. Remnant moisture from tropical system Paine remains over the eastern third of the CWA and light to moderate showers have been occurring overnight across portions of Mohave County. This trend is expected to continue through the morning hours before additional forcing is expected to bring an uptick in shower and thunderstorm coverage. Deep moisture combined with increasing instability along with increased jet dynamics will lead to more widespread and possible severe thunderstorms over Mohave County this afternoon, especially as some drier air starts to work into the mid levels. Although PW values will decrease as the afternoon wears on the likelihood of training storms will lead to an increase flash flood threat for mainly northern Mohave County late morning and afternoon. The current flash flood watch looks good. Some storms are also possible for far eastern Lincoln County, but the bigger threat looks to remain over Mohave Co. No need to expand the flash flood watch at this time. The other main weather impact today will be increasing winds. Current RAWS shows some gusty winds over the eastern Sierra, but so far little else for areas to the east and south. However, winds are expected to increase significantly late this morning and continue into tonight before tapering off behind a cold front that will sweep across the area. Winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 45 mph will be likely over most areas with some potential gusts to 50 mph possible. The strongest winds are expected over western San Bernardino County where gusts to 60 mph are possible. Have gone ahead and upgraded the wind advisory to a high wind warning for zone 523 which includes Barstow and Fort Irwin. Although there may be some gusty north winds initially behind the front, strong persistent north winds are not expected to develop and at this time will not issue any advisories for the Colorado River Valley where north winds can sometimes be an issue. Precipitation will taper off across Mohave county late this afternoon as drier air sweeps across the forecast area. However, a few showers will still be possible overnight. Temperatures behind the weather system will be quite cool (around 10 degrees below seasonal average) Friday afternoon. Dry conditions areawide are also expected Friday. .LONG TERM...Saturday through Wednesday. Not much change in thinking for this period. Low pressure which affected the area through the short term will be to our east by Saturday morning, with northerly mid level flow over our area between the departing low and high pressure moving into the West Coast. The main concern for the weekend will be stiff north winds down the Colorado River Valley. MOS numbers have been increasing for the past couple of days, and Lake Wind Advisories may be needed for the weekend. Otherwise, quiet weather is likely, with a warming trend commencing on Saturday and continuing through the period. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...Light winds early this morning, but will increase through the day. Southwest winds 15-25 kts with gusts to 40 kts will be likely through the afternoon and early evening before a cold front pushes through the area between 02z-04z. Winds will then shift to the west to northwest with speeds 10-20 kts. Few-sct clouds 10k feet this morning with clearing skies by late afternoon. Mechanical turbulence is expected today in the lee of the Spring Mountains. For the rest of southern Nevada...northwest Arizona...and southeast California...Showers and thunderstorms will be widespread today across northern and central Mohave County with lesser chances over Lincoln and points west. Gusty winds and hail will be possible with some of the stronger storms over Mohave County this afternoon. Strong SW winds will develop today across the Mojave Desert east through Mohave County, with a switch to northwest directions expected in the southern Great Basin as a cold front passes through. Gusts to 40 kts are possible and blowing dust is likely, especially near dry lake beds. Mechanical turbulence is expected across the region. && .FIRE WEATHER...Still anticipating widespread red flag conditions today across much of the region with increasing southwest winds ahead of a cold front and gusty northwest winds behind the front. RH may be more marginal for the lower Colorado River south of Needles but still stands the chance to see patchy red flag conditions. Improving conditions with lighter winds expected Friday but remaining dry. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters in Northwest Arizona are encouraged to report severe weather or flooding. Spotters elsewhere can report significant weather (especially blowing dust, wind damage, or fire starts) according to standard operating procedures. && Short Term/Fire Weather/Aviation...Gorelow Long Term...Morgan 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), 68 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 13:01 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Several roads in Colorado City were closed due to flooding and debris.
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, September 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: 655164.