The first monsoon moisture push of the season led to isolated thunderstorms on the 27th through the 29th, followed by a widespread severe weather and flash flooding outbreak on the 30th. The episode continued into July 2nd.
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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.
The first monsoon moisture push of the season led to isolated thunderstorms on the 27th through the 29th, followed by a widespread severe weather and flash flooding outbreak on the 30th. The episode continued into July 2nd.
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 Jun 29, 2:24 PM PST, 3 hours 6 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 324 PM PDT WED JUN 29 2016 .SYNOPSIS...Monsoonal moisture will spread up from northern Mexico Thursday and especially Friday leading to increasing coverage of thunderstorms across the Mojave Desert region. Temperatures will trend downward as the week rolls on but will warm once again as drier conditions take hold early next week. && .SHORT TERM...tonight through Friday night. Thunderstorms have been active over Mohave county and south central Nevada so far this afternoon as expected. Drier mid level air in the southwest flow aloft over Clark County has largely ended the thunderstorms that popped early over the mountains. The HRRR model indicates storms will generally diminish around sunset, but we could see convection over northern Mohave county in the late evening, aided by the circulation moving over Lincoln county. The main focus Thursday into Friday will be the deep moisture pooling over northern Sonora Mexico and southwest Arizona that is forecast to spread up into the region. We will see the leading edge of this moisture make it up through southern and central Mohave County by Thursday afternoon. The nose of this moisture may also begin to work into Clark county. In addition, a 50-60 knot jet is forecast to develop over northwest Arizona Thursday which should aid convection. We should see the potential for some heavy rain producing and possibly training storms over Mohave county Thursday and there is some concern for significant flash flood potential with some thunderstorms. There is good agreement among the models that will see the first big monsoonal moisture push of the season into eastern San Bernardino...Clark and Mohave counties by Friday. CAPE values of 1000-1500 J/KG are forecast to be quite extensive with precipitable water values of 1.25-1.50 inches. If cloud cover is limited...surface heating will be the main driver of convection Friday and we should see an active thunderstorm day with the potential for heavy rain producing storms. Outflow from storms could continue driving convection well into Friday evening given such as moist and unstable environment. .LONG TERM...Saturday through Wednesday. Models showing mid/upper level drying from the southwest taking place over the weekend. However, both the GFS/ECMWF indicate plenty of low level moisture/instability in place to fuel convection. PW values are forecast to be between 1.00 and 1.40 inches Saturday east of a line from Twentynine Palms - Mt. Charleston - Mesquite. Storm motion is forecast to be from the southwest at 10-20 kts which should help mitigate flooding concerns but locally heavy rainfall and gusty winds will accompany storms. Can not rule a a few showers/thunderstorms in eastern Lincoln County and northern Mohave County Sunday before this round of monsoon moisture gets scoured out of the region in time for Fourth of July revelers. In fact all of next week looks dry at this time with the passage of a trough through the Pacific Northwest. The trough will help enhance afternoon and evening southwest winds Monday-Wednesday. Now that fuels are cured this will elevate fire weather concerns early next week. Influx of moisture/cloud cover should have some affect on temperatures Saturday. Once drier air arrives temperatures will rise back to some 3 to 5 degrees above normal Sunday-Wednesday. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...Light to moderate southwest winds will prevail through this evening and overnight though there is a slight chance of erratic winds associated with thunderstorm outflow both from storms to the north and east of Las Vegas. Thunderstorm coverage will increase in the Peach Spring corridor Thursday and there will be a slight chance for thunderstorms around the Las Vegas Valley Thursday afternoon, but confidence is too low to mention in the official forecast at this time. For the rest of southern Nevada...northwest Arizona...and southeast California...Scattered thunderstorms across the southern Sierra, south central Nevada and northwest Arizona will largely dissipate this evening. Thunderstorm coverage will increase over northwest Arizona Thursday as increasing monsoonal moisture spreads up from northern Mexico. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather according to standard operating procedures. && Short Term/Aviation...Adair Long Term...Pierce For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: http://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
The San Joaquin Valley radar (KHNX), 188 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:30 UTC.
4 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A debris flow covered Highway 168 with mud.
Water and mud covered the intersection of Highway 95 and Goffs Road. 95 was eventually closed all the way to Interstate 40.
Flash flooding closed Needles Highway and River Road, and also washed out several nearby roads.
Highway 190 was flooded from Daylight Pass Cutoff to Cow Creek.
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, June 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: 643038, 644969, 644995, 644972.