Nevada, 2017

Heat in Nevada, September 8 to 11, 2017

September 8 to 11, 2017 · NWS VEF · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Three people in the Las Vegas Valley died of Heat related causes.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

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The toll

Deaths
3
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS VEF wrote it up.

Three people in the Las Vegas Valley died of Heat related causes.

What forecasters said that day

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 7, 7:52 PM PST, 4 hours 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 7, 7:52 PM PST, 4 hours 8 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Las Vegas NV
852 PM PDT Thu Sep 7 2017

.SYNOPSIS...Moisture is expected to increase Friday through
Sunday leading to more widespread showers and thunderstorms over
portions of the southern Great Basin and Mojave Desert. Temperatures
will cool to below normal readings Friday and Saturday with the
additional cloud cover.
&&

.UPDATE...Still some weak convection going on in the eastern half of
the forecast area this evening and the latest HRRR still indicates
some potential for a few showers or thunderstorms overnight mainly
in Mohave County. Forecast looks to be in pretty good shape and no
updates planned this evening. -Harrison-
&&

.PREV DISCUSSION...
320 PM PDT Thu Sep 7 2017

.SHORT TERM...tonight through Sunday.

Moisture and instability over the eastern half of the forecast area
has led to scattered showers and thunderstorms over Mohave, Clark
and San Bernardino Counties this afternoon. The strongest storms are
occurring over portions of eastern San Beranrdino and Clark counties
where strong wind gusts have been an issue. DCAPES are generally
around 1700 J/KG and we have seen several microbursts in the area.
With ongoing outflow boundaries we may see storms continue through
the evening before dissipating late.

Upper low off the central California coast will move inland
overnight and the associated trough will help pull low level
monsoonal moisture northward early Friday. This moisture is expected
to increase through the afternoon and into Saturday. Dynamics
associated with low combined with increasing instability will lead
to more widespread thunderstorms over Mohave, Clark, Lincoln,
southern Nye, and eastern San Bernardino Counties Friday and
Saturday. A sharp moisture/instability boundary stretching from
roughly western Lincoln down through eastern San Bernardino County
should keep things dry to the west, but storms along this boundary
could become more organized. With the increased moisture and
potential for training storms, heavy rain and long duration rainfall
could be an issue. Have gone ahead and issued a flash flood watch
for those aforementioned areas starting mid Friday morning and
continuing into Monday morning.

Moisture will remain on Sunday, but the upper low that moved inland
over central California will retrograde and the moisture boundary is
expected to shift further west. This could bring more of the heavy
rain and thunderstorms to western San Bernardino and Inyo Counties
Sunday. At this time will not issue any statements for those areas,
but as we get close a Watch may be needed.

.LONG TERM...Monday through Thursday.

Lingering chances for thunderstorms, though lower than Saturday,
will remain over much of the forecast area Sunday as moisture wraps
around the closed low off the southern California Coast. Although
moisture decreases, there will be broad diffluence over much of the
forecast area and more surface heating to support thunderstorm
development. There is good agreement among the GFS and ECMWF that a
drier southwest flow will spread over the region Monday through
Wednesday as the closed low slowly lifts toward central California
then moves inland. The ECMWF depicts a deep broad trough diving out
of the Pacific Northwest that looks like will scour all moisture out
of the region by Thursday along with a noteworthy cooling trend. If
this plays out, it will be the end of monsoon season about on
schedule with the transition to a fall pattern as troughs drop down
from the northwest.

&&

.AVIATION...For McCarran...Afternoon thunderstorms will subside and
gusty south winds will subside and favor the usual southwest
overnight. By late tomorrow morning, southeast winds will kick in,
bringing a push of monsoon moisture and thunderstorms to the region.
Training thunderstorms will be possible much of the day into
overnight, capable of producing gusty winds and very heavy rain.
Ceilings may come down to below 10 kft under thunderstorms.

For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast
California...Increasing moisture will bring increasing thunderstorm
chances and lowering ceilings across much of the region, especially
along the Colorado River Valley. Storms are likely to be more
widespread by the evening, with gusty winds and heavy rain the main
threats. Ceilings look to fall to or under 10 kft under
thunderstorms.
&&

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report
any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating
procedures.
&&

SHORT TERM...Gorelow
LONG TERM....Adair
AVIATION.....Steele

For more forecast information...see us on our webpage:

http://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter

In the hours before

Local storm report, Sep 7, 7:04 PM PST, 4 hours 56 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
804 PM PDT THU SEP 07 2017

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0619 PM     FLASH FLOOD      HIKO                    37.60N 115.22W
09/07/2017                   LINCOLN            NV   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            NHP REPORTED A 200-300 YARD STRETCH OF STATE ROUTE 318 AT
            HIKO WAS CLOSED DUE TO FLOODING. LOCAL TRAFFIC WAS BEING
            ALLOWED TO PASS.

&&

JH

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Heat, Las Vegas Valley

When
September 8, 12:00 AM PST to September 11, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Las Vegas Valley forecast zone
Deaths
1 direct, 2 indirect
Reported by
County Official
Coordinates
36.215, -115.014 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Three people died of heat related causes.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

EventDateAgeSexWhereKind
Heat, Las Vegas Valley2017-09-0826FemaleOutside/Open AreasDirect
Heat, Las Vegas Valley2017-09-1162FemalePermanent HomeIndirect
Heat, Las Vegas Valley2017-09-1174MalePermanent HomeIndirect

What these are

Heat
Heat below excessive heat criteria that still caused deaths, injuries or significant impacts.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Nevada in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, September 2017

Sources

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: 721079.