Excessive Heat Warning criteria were reached in Las Vegas on July 6th. Nine people died in Las Vegas of heat related causes during and in the immediate aftermath of the excessive heat.
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.
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.
Excessive Heat Warning criteria were reached in Las Vegas on July 6th. Nine people died in Las Vegas of heat related causes during and in the immediate aftermath of the excessive heat.
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 Jul 5, 6:37 PM PST, 5 hours 23 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 737 PM PDT Thu Jul 5 2018 .SYNOPSIS...Very hot temperatures expected tomorrow with increasing Thunderstorm chances late Friday and into the weekend. Thunderstorms tomorrow will mainly be confined to northwest Arizona and along the Colorado River and may be accompanied by strong winds and blowing dust. Near daily thunderstorm chances can be expected well into next week for most of the region. && .UPDATE...A couple of updates to the forecast of the remainder of the overnight and Friday morning hours. First, satellites shows mid/high level moisture streaming inland across central California eastward into central Nevada. This moisture originated from what is now Tropical Storm Fabio. So increased cloud cover across northern Inyo and Esmeralda Counties. Secondly, have been monitoring an outflow boundary and associated wall of dust across the south central deserts of Arizona. Presently, the boundary is located across southwest Yavapia and western Maricopa Counties. Movement to the west-northwest seems to be slightly slowing based on radar. Tracking the boundary indicates it should reach southeast Mohave County between 9-10 pm and Lake Havasu City between 11 pm and midnight. Shift in the winds to the south-southeast will likely bring in some suspended dust and higher humidity overnight and Friday morning. So added a mention of haze to parts of southern Mohave and eastern San Bernardino County. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...South to southwest winds are forecast to continue overnight with wind speeds generally less than 10 kts, but should settle between 6-8 kts after 04z. Expect Southeast winds with occasional gusts 15-18kts late morning and afternoon Friday and a more south-southwest wind flow at night, generally below 6kts. There is a small chance of thunderstorm activity late Friday afternoon. While storms may not make it into the Las Vegas Valley, the airport may experience storm outflow winds from the east in the early evening. Saturday onward, the pattern gets more conducive to afternoon thunderstorm activity which will last well into next week. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...Shower and thunderstorm activity will begin to increase south and east of the I-15 corridor beginning tomorrow and lasting well into next week. For these areas, expect afternoon activity to affect air traffic where present. Elsewhere, general low flow pattern and occasional mid and high clouds expected. && .SHORT TERM...Interesting forecast through the weekend as excessive heat gives way to an active monsoon pattern which promises to last well into next week. As far as the heat is concerned, excessive heat is still expected tomorrow with highs across much of the Mojave Desert rising into the 110+ temperature range, and exceeding 120 around Death Valley. Increasing moisture advecting in from the east may subdue temperatures slightly across the Colorado River Valley south of Needles, but the end result will just be a more muggy heat. So the current heat product looks good. Hot temperatures during the afternoon will be followed by increasing clouds overnight Friday into Saturday morning, trapping a significant amount of heat across the desert floor and keeping temperatures elevated for Saturday morning. In fact, the forecast low of 90F in Las Vegas could break the previous calendar day record low maximum temperature of 88F set in 2001. By Saturday and Sunday, increasing moisture and cloud cover should set temperatures back closer to normal. Now shifting gears towards the monsoon, already seeing signs of change this afternoon as fairly strong convection materializes on the eastern Mogollon Rim of Northern Arizona. The moisture gradient sparking this activity will push westward overnight, reaching our eastern zones by late morning Friday. This gradient will be the impetus for convection Friday afternoon, with fairly strong model agreement on thunderstorms developing over Central & Southern Mohave county and developing westward towards the Colorado River in the evening. Given the very hot and dry sub-cloud layer, damaging winds and blowing dust are the primary concern. Interests along US-93 between Kingman and Lake Mead, along with boaters on Lake Mead & Mohave should be prepared for strong and sudden wind gusts (even from distant storms) and pockets of low visibility from blowing dust in the afternoon and evening hours. Moisture will continue to increase Friday night into Saturday, with some weak showers and thunderstorms possibly lifting into southern Nevada early Saturday morning. Precipitable water suggested by the GFS may creep up to 1.25-1.5" by Saturday morning promoting additional storm activity Saturday which will likely be heavily influenced by morning cloud cover. Moisture hangs around Sunday with more showers and thunderstorms in the forecast, particularly in the eastern half of the forecast area. && .LONG TERM... General pattern would support continued monsoonal flow around a strong area of high pressure centered east of the Rockies. Persistent moist flow up into the Mojave Desert showing PWATs over 1.0 inch combined with at least modest instability will result in a chance of thunderstorms each day, especially east of I-15. As always in monsoon or convective patterns, small scale features that change daily will drive the exact details. Given no major changes in the long range models, didnt make significant changes from the previous forecast. Towards the end of the week, models do diverge on how far north and west the moisture and instability will push, with the GFS bringing precipitation chances all north through the Sierras and Great Basin. With little change in the overall synoptic pattern, didnt reflect this westward push for precipitation yet, but if a significant enough wave moves through the mean flow its not out of the question. While temperatures will be on a gradual downward trend through the week, humid conditions will stick around so dont expect much relief even though temperatures return to near normal by midweek. && .FIRE WEATHER... Winds will be lighter and temperatures will climb through Friday before monsoon moisture increases quickly over the weekend leading to lower temperatures, higher relative humidity and the development of isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms across the Mojave Desert and southern Great Basin. Substantial moisture will support an increasing chance of wetting rains with any showers or thunderstorms. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && UPDATE...Pierce AVIATION...Gorelow Short Term/Fire Weather...Outler Long Term...Wolf 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 excessive heat. Local standard time, as filed.
Nine people died in Las Vegas of heat related causes from July 6th through 10th.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Excessive Heat, Las Vegas Valley | 2018-07-06 | 47 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
| Excessive Heat, Las Vegas Valley | 2018-07-07 | 28 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
| Excessive Heat, Las Vegas Valley | 2018-07-07 | 47 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
| Excessive Heat, Las Vegas Valley | 2018-07-08 | 84 | Female | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
| Excessive Heat, Las Vegas Valley | 2018-07-09 | 60 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
| Excessive Heat, Las Vegas Valley | 2018-07-10 | 71 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
| Excessive Heat, Las Vegas Valley | 2018-07-10 | 46 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Indirect |
| Excessive Heat, Las Vegas Valley | 2018-07-06 | 78 | Female | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Excessive Heat, Las Vegas Valley | 2018-07-10 | 56 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, July 2018
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: 773532.