Precipitable water at or near all-time April records and an unseasonably strong, cold Pacific storm system came together to produce a very unusual April flash flooding episode.
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.
Precipitable water at or near all-time April records and an unseasonably strong, cold Pacific storm system came together to produce a very unusual April flash flooding episode.
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 Apr 8, 8:22 AM PST, 4 hours 29 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 922 AM PDT FRI APR 8 2016 .SYNOPSIS...THE FIRST PACIFIC SYSTEM IN A SERIES OF EXPECTED STORMS WILL MOVE INTO THE REGION TODAY BRINGING COOLER TEMPERATURES AND INCREASING CHANCES FOR RAIN AND HIGH ELEVATION SNOW THAT WILL LAST THROUGH THE WEEKEND. COOL AND UNSETTLED WEATHER WILL CONTINUE INTO THE EARLY PART OF NEXT WEEK. && .UPDATE...A BROAD BAND OF LIGHT RAIN CONTINUES TO EVER SO SLOWLY PUSH NORTH THIS MORNING...MUCH SLOWER THAN GUIDANCE HAS SHOWN OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS AND HOURS. FORTUNATELY THIS SLOWER PROGRESSION SPARED THE MORNING COMMUTE IN THE LAS VEGAS METRO AREA. HOWEVER...THE AFTERNOON COMMUTE MAY NOT FAIR SO WELL. STILL EXPECTING THIS BAND TO CONSIST MOSTLY OF LIGHT RAIN SHOWERS...PUTTING DOWN A TRACE TO 0.2 INCHES OF RAIN AS IT PASSES BY. TO THE SOUTH...JUST A HINT OF CLEARING HAS LEAD TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM SOUTHWEST OF LAKE HAVASU CITY. THIS HIGHLIGHTS THE POTENTIAL FOR THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE REST OF TODAY...ESPECIALLY SOUTH OF A BAKER TO KINGMAN LINE WHERE THERE EXISTS THE MOST POTENTIAL FOR CLEARING AND WHERE THE LATEST MESOANALYSIS INDICATES THE STRONGEST INSTABILITY. THE MAIN THREATS WITH ANY STORMS WILL BE LIGHTNING AND BRIEF HEAVY RAIN. WILL BE TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT THE FORECAST TOMORROW. THE LATEST GUIDANCE HINTS AT A RELATIVELY STATIONARY AREA OF SHOWERS/STORMS EXTENDING FROM THE MOJAVE PRESERVE UP THROUGH THE NEVADA NATIONAL SECURITY SITE...PERHAPS JUST WEST OF LAS VEGAS. REFINEMENTS MAY BE NECESSARY TO THE PRECIPITATION FORECAST. MORE ON THAT IN THE AFTERNOON PACKAGE. && .PREV DISCUSSION... 304 AM PDT FRI APR 8 2016 .SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. THE CLOSED LOW WE HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING FOR QUITE SOME TIME HAS FINALLY REACHED THE SOUTHWEST COAST AS A BROAD OPEN WAVE. IT IS FORECAST TO REMAIN THAT WAY AS IT SWINGS NORTHWARD THROUGH THE CWA TODAY. MOISTURE...MAINLY MID TO HIGH LEVEL THROUGH MUCH OF THE NIGHT HAS BEGUN TO DEEPEN INTO THE LOWER LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE ACROSS THE FAR SOUTHERN REGIONS. STILL, ONLY TRACE AMOUNTS HAVE BEEN REPORTED THROUGH 3 AM. VIRGA SHOWERS THAT PUSHED INTO SOUTHEASTERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY AND SOUTHERN MOHAVE COUNTY LAST EVENING PRODUCED STRONG WIND GUSTS IN THE 40-50 MPH RANGE ALONG THE COLORADO RIVER VALLEY FROM LAKE HAVASU CITY TO NEEDLES. THIS WAS LARGELY DUE TO THE VERY DRY LOWER LEVELS. MOST AREAS ACROSS THE CWA WILL HAVE A DECENT SHOT AT SEEING MEASURABLE RAINFALL DURING THE FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY TIME FRAME AND FAIRLY GENEROUS AMOUNTS AT THAT. IN LAS VEGAS, RECORDS COULD BE IN JEOPARDY ANY OF THE THREE DAYS WHERE RECORD AMOUNTS ARE 0.28, 0.17 AND 0.13 RESPECTIVELY...ALL SET IN 1943. GENERALLY, A QUARTER TO A HALF INCH RAINFALL AMOUNTS SEEMS REASONABLE GIVEN THE ANOMALOUS MOISTURE AND DYNAMICS PROVIDED BY DUEL LOWS AND SINCE THUNDERSTORMS ARE A POSSIBILITY, THERE COULD BE LOCALLY HEAVIER AMOUNTS ASSOCIATED WITH STORM CELLS. PRECIPITATION BANDING COULD ALSO LEAD TO HIGHER RAINFALL TOTALS. THE TWO RELATIVELY WARM SYSTEMS WILL KEEP SNOW LEVELS ON THE HIGH SIDE...MAINLY ABOVE 7000 OR 8000 FEET. NO SIGNIFICANT WIND IS EXPECTED THROUGH THE WEEKEND...JUST SOME SOUTHERLY BREEZES AT TIMES. THE EXCEPTION WOULD BE WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH CONVECTION. .LONG TERM...MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. ANOTHER, ALBEIT WEAKER, PACIFIC LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL PASS ACROSS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND SOUTHERN NEVADA MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT. IT WILL PROVIDE ANOTHER ROUND OF SHOWERS (PERHAPS A FEW THUNDERSTORMS) TO MUCH OF THE FORECAST AREA. AS THE LOW PUSHES EAST, SHORTWAVE RIDGING WILL WORK OVER THE REGION TUESDAY PROVIDING A BRIEF BREAK IN ACTIVE WEATHER. THE BREAK WILL NOT LAST LONG AS A POTENTIALLY STRONG PACIFIC STORM BEGINS IMPACTING OUR FORECAST AREA WITH GUSTY SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST WINDS WEDNESDAY. THERE ARE MODEL DIFFERENCES, BUT STILL LOOKS LIKE A DEEP TROUGH, IF NOT A CLOSED LOW, WILL PUSH ACROSS THE AREA THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. CURRENTLY THE GFS IS THE DEEPER AND WETTER SOLUTION FOR OUR AREA, WHILE THE ECMWF KEEPS MOST OF THE PRECIP CONFINED TO THE TERRAIN. && .AVIATION...FOR MCCARRAN...CIGS WILL CONTINUE TO LOWER TO AROUND 5KFT THROUGH THE MORNING, WITH PERHAPS SOME SLIGHT IMPROVEMENT LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. THE BEST CHANCE OF SHOWERS WILL BE DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE TAF PERIOD THEN DIMINISHING AROUND 00- 02Z. SOUTHERLY WINDS OF 7-12 KNOTS WILL BE COMMON THROUGH THE FORECAST PERIOD. A FEW GUSTS TO 20 KNOTS ARE POSSIBLE. WINDS MAY FAVOR MORE OF A SOUTHEAST COMPONENT AS SHOWERS APPROACH THE TERMINAL AND CAN VARY WIDELY AS SHOWERS PASS OVERHEAD. MOUNTAIN OBSCURATIONS WILL BE PREVALENT. FOR THE REST OF SOUTHERN NEVADA...NORTHWEST ARIZONA...AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA...GUSTY SOUTH TO SOUTHWESTERLY WINDS CAN BE EXPECTED THROUGH THE TAF PERIOD ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE AREA WITH LOCALIZED STRONG WINDS TIED TO SHOWER ACTIVITY. SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE NORTHWARD THROUGH THIS MORNING, WITH CIGS LOWERING TO AROUND 5KFT AND PERSISTING THROUGH MUCH OF THE TAF PERIOD. MOUNTAIN OBSCURATIONS WILL BE PREVALENT. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED HOWEVER, SPOTTERS SHOULD REPORT ANY SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. && UPDATE...WOLCOTT SHORT TERM...SALMEN LONG TERM/AVIATION...PADDOCK FOR MORE FORECAST INFORMATION...SEE US ON OUR WEB PAGE: HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/LASVEGAS OR FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
The Edwards AFB radar (KEYX), 16 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:51 UTC.
5 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Water flowed across Highway 58.
Water, rocks, and debris partially blocked Fort Irwin Road.
Water flowed over Old Woman Springs Road at San Juan Road. One vehicle was pushed off the road by the flood, resulting in one minor injury.
Highway 62 was flooded southwest of Vidal Junction, with several vehicles backed up.
Flooding washed out Fort Irwin Road near mile marker 4.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in California, April 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: 619622, 619623, 619624, 619625, 619626.