Low pressure over the Pacific Northwest brought gusty southwest winds to much of the Mojave Desert and southern Great Basin. Isolated high winds occurred.
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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.
Low pressure over the Pacific Northwest brought gusty southwest winds to much of the Mojave Desert and southern Great Basin. Isolated high winds occurred.
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 15, 7:50 AM PST, 5 hours 55 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 850 AM PDT WED JUN 15 2016 .SYNOPSIS...Dry and occasionally breezy conditions through Friday with slightly below normal temperatures. Wind advisories are in effect for many areas this afternoon with gusts over 40 mph expected. High pressure will strengthen over the weekend and into early next week resulting in the hottest weather conditions of the year. An Excessive Heat Watch is in effect for Sunday through Tuesday of next week. && .UPDATE...Clear skies and breezy conditions were observed across the forecast area this morning. Still looking for areas of strong winds by this afternoon and the current wind advisory looks good. No updates anticipated this morning. -Harrison- && .PREV DISCUSSION... 257 AM PDT WED JUN 15 2016 .SHORT TERM...Today through Friday night. Low pressure over the Pacific NW will come more into play today as shortwave energy rounds the and ejects through northern California. This will lead to an increase in winds with windy conditions expected over much of area. A Wind Advisory will go into effect for portions of the area later this morning and continue into the early evening. The advisory area was expanded to include NE Clark county, Lake Mead and Mohave county where the latest hi-res model data and MOS guidance forecasts winds at or above criteria. Wind across the area this afternoon will generally be 20-30 mph with gusts 30-40 mph with stronger winds expected in the advisory areas. The advisory does not include the Las Vegas Valley however, gusts exceeding 40 mph are possible on the far western edges of the valley. Wind speeds on Thursday and Friday are expected to be somewhat lighter but still breezy in many areas. Temperatures are expected to be slightly cooler over the next couple of days generally running about 3-5 degrees below normal. By Friday, temperatures are forecast to rebound several degrees but remain just below normal. && .LONG TERM...Saturday through Wednesday. An exceptionally strong area of high pressure is forecast to expand across the southwest states this weekend and generally hold at least through early next week...and possibly into the middle of the week. This will produce a significant heat wave across the entire southwest region Sunday through at least Tuesday and the Excessive Heat Watch already in effect for our Mojave Desert zones will remain in effect. Some consideration was given to extending the watch into Wednesday, but we will hold off for now due to some uncertainty between the GFS and ECMWF with respect to the ridge position. The ECMWF does not indicate as strong of a ridge as the GFS over the region Monday and Tuesday and is quicker in pushing it off to the east by Wednesday in response to a broad trough dropping into the Pacific Northwest. There are some temperature differences also Sunday through Tuesday, with the GFS guidance indicating high temperatures 3-5 degrees higher than the ECMWF Monday and Tuesday. The official forecast is skewed toward the higher GFS values which are also supported by the BCCONS models. In any case, excessively hot weather is expected to set in by Sunday with the hottest days Monday and Tuesday. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...VFR conditions through the period. Expect south-southwest winds 8-12 kts with gusts to around 20 kts this morning...increasing to 16-20 kts with gusts around 30 kts this afternoon and early evening. For the rest of Southern Nevada...Northwest Arizona...and Southeast California...VFR conditions expected through the period. Expect south to southwest winds 10-20 kts through the morning hours with occasional gusts to around 30 kts. Stronger winds are expected this afternoon as southwest winds increase to 20-30 kts with gusts 35-45 kts over much of the area. Mechanical turbulence is possible downstream of NW-SE oriented mountain ranges today. && .FIRE WEATHER...Warm and dry conditions will persist through the remainder of the week along with breezy to windy conditions. The strongest winds this week will be on Wednesday when much of the area will see widespread wind gusts over 35 mph. The Spring Mountains and Sheep Range are the main area of concern today due to the combination of dry fuels and long duration gusty winds and low humidity. A red flag warning is in effect for these areas. Also, there are elevated fire weather concerns today across portions of Mohave county as winds are forecast to increase, humidity values decrease and fuels continue to cure. Weather conditions may be near critical Thursday and Friday in some areas although wind speeds are not forecast to be as strong. The weekend will bring increasing temperatures with hotter, drier conditions early next week. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected. However, spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather according to standard operating procedures. && Short term/Aviation...Salmen Long term...Adair 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.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
These winds occurred 40 miles E of Beatty. The peak wind occurred at 1345 PST.
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, 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: 630347.