A significant push of monsoon moisture, aided by an approaching upper level trough, brought an outbreak of severe weather and 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 significant push of monsoon moisture, aided by an approaching upper level trough, brought an outbreak of severe weather and 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 22, 12:49 PM PST, 5 hours 25 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 149 PM PDT MON AUG 22 2016 .SYNOPSIS...Widespread thunderstorm activity is expected this evening and overnight as a weather system moves across the region. Drier conditions are expected Tuesday with shower chances generally confined to the higher terrain. Temperatures will be near or slightly below normal through the week. && .Short Term...through Tuesday night. Weak upper level low pushing through the area continues to generate shower and thunderstorm activity this afternoon. Convection so far has materialized across the Sierra and Mohave county and more recently isolated convection has increased across Lincoln/northern Nye county and the higher terrain of Clark County. High resolution models and the HRRR have been fairly consistent in suggesting thunderstorms in Lincoln county will develop into a larger scale complex and drift south into Clark and Mohave counties this evening, possibly impacting the Las Vegas Valley. Strong and gusty north winds will accompany this complex should it unfold as advertised. As the low pushes east tonight, greatest chances for storms will transition eastward to become focused across Mohave county and eastern Lincoln county. Overall thunderstorm intensity will be limited by fairly weak wind shear but strong and gusty outflow winds and localized flash flooding will be the primary concerns from storms which develop today and tonight. The I-15 corridor from Vegas to St. George as well as Lake Mead is likely to be impacted by thunderstorms moving southward out of Lincoln County late this evening. Drier air will move in Tuesday but scattered storms are still a good bet across the higher terrain of southern Nevada and northwest Arizona thanks to lingering moisture and instability. Some additional storms are also expected across the Sierra and Owens Valley. With this in mind I did bump PoPs up slightly across much of the region, and even included low chances across the Spring and Sheep range as well as the Mojave Preserve. .Long Term...Wednesday through Monday. Mid/upper trough will have exited to the east by Wednesday with a somewhat drier and more stable northwest flow over the forecast area. Thunderstorm chances appear to be minimal but cannot totally rule out an isolated afternoon thunderstorm over the Sierra and higher terrain of northern Mohave County. More shortwave energy will approach the area from the north Thursday, and with moisture not being totally flushed out, increasing thunderstorm chances are expected across mainly Lincoln and northern Mohave Counties. This shortwave will just very slowly drift east across the area keeping a chance of thunderstorms in the forecast through Saturday, again mainly for Lincoln and northern Mohave Counties. The models are in decent agreement moving the shortwave east of the area Sunday as high pressure builds over southern California. Isolated thunderstorms may still linger over higher terrain of northern Mohave County Sunday but the entire area should be dry by Monday. Temperatures through the long term look fairly close to normal Wednesday and Thursday then slight cooling for Friday and Saturday followed by warming to normal again Sunday and Monday as the southern California high starts to build. && .FIRE WEATHER...Numerous thunderstorms are expected across the area this afternoon, particularly across the Sierra, southern Nevada, and Northwest Arizona. Widespread clouds and moisture will keep local Relative Humidities elevated and winds will generally be light outside of thunderstorm outflow boundaries. Drier air will move in Tuesday but scattered storms remain possible across the higher terrain. Conditions will continue to dry out by midweek and onward but daily low chances for thunderstorms will persist in the mountains. Temperatures will be near seasonal normals. .AVIATION...For McCarran...Scattered thunderstorms remain possible through the evening hours with a good possibility of gusty north winds sometime in the 02-06z time period associated with thunderstorm outflow. Should this north push occur, wind speeds of 15 to 20 knots with gusts to 35 knots would be possible (Similar to last night).Otherwise...SCT-BKN clouds above 10k expected overnight. Drier conditions expected tomorrow but thunderstorms may persist across the Peach Springs Corridor and across the Clark County mountains. For the rest of southern Nevada...northwest Arizona...and southeast California...Scattered to numerous thunderstorms expected this evening and overnight mainly north of a Olancha-Lake Havasu line. Gusty surface winds and convective turbulence can be expected in these areas. Sct-Bkn clouds can be expected as well. Drier conditions expected Tuesday but scattered mountain thunderstorms will remain possible. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report significant weather, including any flooding and/or wind reports, according to standard operating procedures. && Short Term/Aviation/Fire Weather: Outler Long Term: Harrison For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: http://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
525 PM PDT MON AUG 22 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0500 PM FLASH FLOOD 3 ENE GOLDEN VALLEY 35.24N 114.18W
08/22/2016 MOHAVE AZ TRAINED SPOTTER
TWO FEET OF WATER SWIFTLY RUNNING OVER
SEVERAL STREETS ON THE NORTHEAST SIDE OF
GOLDEN VALLEY.
&&
CMSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
538 PM PDT MON AUG 22 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0411 PM DUST STORM 3 E PANAMINT SPRINGS 36.34N 117.42W
08/22/2016 INYO CA LAW ENFORCEMENT
CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL REPORTED ZERO
VISIBILITY DUE TO BLOWING DUST/SAND NEAR
PANAMINT.
&&
BPThe Las Vegas radar (KESX), 72 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:11 UTC.
4 thunderstorm wind, 4 flash flood, 1 hail, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Three quarter inch to one inch hail fell from Ann and Durango to All American Park.
Lightning struck a house, setting a fire which destroyed the building.
Approximately 6900 customers in the area also lost power, although it is unsure whether this was due to wind or lightning.
Thunderstorm winds snapped a one to two foot diameter tree at Chaparral High School.
Several swift water rescues occurred on the north side of the Las Vegas Valley. Multiple vehicles were stuck in flooding at Las Vegas Blvd and Cheyenne, and Craig Road was flooded over the sidewalks between Interstate 15 and Losee Road. Highway 215 was closed from Range Road to Lamb Blvd. The Nellis AFB main gate was closed for over 12 hours due to debris.
Warm Springs Road and Ranch Road were closed due to flooding and debris.
Mud and debris were on Interstate 15 at Exit 64.
Valley of Fire Road was closed due to flooding and debris.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, 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: 649925, 649928, 649929, 649930, 649933, 649935, 649936, 649938, 649940, 649941.