A potent atmospheric river brought heavy rain and flooding to much of the Mojave Desert.
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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 potent atmospheric river brought heavy rain and flooding to much of the Mojave Desert.
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 Feb 14, 3:18 AM PST, 3 hours 13 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 318 AM PST Thu Feb 14 2019 .SYNOPSIS...An atmospheric river event will bring moderate to heavy rain to much of the region today before tapering by tonight. Additional storm systems over the weekend will help rain and snow shower chances linger along with keeping the region cooler than normal and windy at times. && .SHORT TERM...through Friday night. Leading edge of AR nosing into southern California this morning. Radar showing returns starting to quickly develop and spread eastward over the High Desert of San Bernardino County. Surface reports showing heavy rain inland as far east as Palm Springs. Satellite derived PW values running 1+" as far inland as western Arizona with 1.5" values along the southern California coast. Those values are well in excess of 200% of normal. The snow level radar in the San Bernardino County mountains showing snow levels running around 10 kft currently. Upper trough west of San Francisco will eject inland today in response to an even deeper/colder closed low moving south out of the Gulf of Alaska. The deep moisture will be riding along the southern edge of an impressive 180 kt jet today which will add not only more dynamics, but strong orographics along our southwest facing slopes. Made no change to our existing weather headlines. Model QPF output continues to indicate 1+" rainfall amounts likely from the Morongo Basin east into southern Mohave County, in addition to the Spring Mtns and eastern Sierra Slopes. Those high snow levels will limit our greatest accumulations to above 8500 feet today. HRRR suggests a pretty defined back to the precipitation shield will be moving from northwest to southeast this evening. Back looks to clear southern Nevada/eastern San Bernardino County around 8 pm PST, and finally Mohave County by 10 pm MST. Best shot for snow in Kyle Canyon will be this evening as snow levels lower with the exiting band. With the exiting band, hi-res models indicate a brief window of gusty wind as well this evening. A few gusts may exceed 40 mph briefly, don't believe it warrants a wind advisory. However, by Friday afternoon and evening as that next trough sags south a more typical wind scenario develops that may warrant a wind advisory. The passage of a shortwave trough will bring a chance of showers Friday and Friday night as well. .LONG TERM...Saturday through Thursday Continued unsettled and cool weather is expected for the weekend into the beginning of next week. Precipitation chances will depend on the timing and strength of multiple pieces of energy moving through the mean cyclonic flow, which is always difficult for models to handle this far out. So moderate confidence in the forecast for the weekend and Monday. Saturday currently looks to be the better of the days for the weekend, with most of the precipitation confined to the higher terrain of Lincoln and Mohave counties. It may remain breezy though, especially in the westerly prone areas near Yucca Valley and Morongo Basin. By Sunday, another decent push of forcing digs down out of the Pacific Northwest, resulting in another round of scattered precipitation across much of the area. By that time, the atmospheric river that has been plaguing the West Coast should shut off and the flow will be more westerly, so QPF will not be light than what we have seen recently. Precipitation chances linger through Monday before the back end of the upper level trough finally shifts eastward and we should dry out Monday night through mid week. In its wake, cooler air will filter in on northerly flow and therefore well below temperatures are expected for much of next week. Forecast confidence quickly decreases for the end of next week as models have differing solutions on how strong and far south the next upper level system will dig. Another period of unsettled weather is possible, but will not invest much into forecast details past Thursday at this time. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...Rain will move in from the south and west by early this morning, with lower ceilings expected with the arrival of the precipitation. Current thinking is that the best chance for heavier rain, which may reduce visibility to 3SM or less, should be between 18Z through 21Z. After 21Z, the rain will continue though likely not as heavy...however cloud decks will drop, possible reaching 1000ft or less at times. This should continue through the early evening before the rain comes to an end around 03Z, at which time improving ceilings are likely and will continue to lift through the night. The issue overnight into Friday will be the winds. South to southwest winds will begin to increase this afternoon, with winds over 10kt possible after 21Z. Winds will then increase more once the rain stops, with southwest gusts to 25kts possible. Gusts may drop off around midnight, but expecting winds to remain at or above 10kts through the night into Friday morning. Gusts should return out of the south to southwest Friday, however it will be dry with VFR clouds expected. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...Rain will overspread the area through the morning and should continue through the day through out the region. Lower cigs and possibly reduced visibility due to moderate to heavy rain is possible at times through much of the day. Cigs 5k feet or lower will be common along with the potential of seeing vsbys less than 5sm. The worst cigs will likely be in the Sierra where less than 1000ft is possible. Heaviest rain will likely be south of highway 40 through San Bernardino and southern Mohave counties. The precipitation will end from west to east this evening and early tonight, with improving conditions expected through the night. Winds should increase out o f the south to southwest through the night though, with the strongest winds near DAG where gusts 30-35kts are possible through the first half of tonight. Gusty winds may subside for a brief period early Friday morning but may increase again Friday midday. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...A weather system will bring heavy snow to the southern Sierra Nevada, less for the Spring Mountains through Thursday Night. Locally heavy rain possible for parts of San Bernardino and Mohave Counties. Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && SHORT TERM...Pierce LONG TERM/AVIATION...Wolf For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: http://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
The Santa Ana Mts radar (KSOX), 121 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:32 UTC.
3 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Many roads in Morongo Valley and Yucca Valley were flooded, and water entered at least one home.
Wildrose Road was closed due to flooding.
Eureka Valley Road was closed due to flooding.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in California, February 2019
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: 805418, 805430, 805431.