A strong Pacific storm brought locally heavy rain and isolated flash flooding to southeast California.
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.
A strong Pacific storm brought locally heavy rain and isolated flash flooding to southeast California.
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 2, 4:07 AM PST, 2 hours 43 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 407 AM PST Sat Feb 2 2019 .SYNOPSIS...A potent Pacific Storm moving inland today and tonight will bring significant mountain snow, widespread rainfall and gusty winds to our area. A brief lull will occur Sunday before a colder system with less moisture slowly drops down from the north and produces gusty winds and additional chances for showers through mid-week. && .SHORT TERM...Today and tonight. A wide swath of moisture ahead of a closed upper low circulating off the California Coast was spreading inland this morning and our forecast area still looks to be in a favorable position to receive widespread rain, gusty winds and heavy snow in the mountains above 7500 feet. Snow has already been falling in the Southern Sierra since before midnight and recent radar loops showed light rain across much of Inyo and San Bernardino counties. Areas of light rain will continue spreading across southern Nevada this morning, but there will be some breaks today ahead of the main event late this afternoon and evening. This will be a concentrated band of precipitation just ahead of the baroclinic zone associated with the closed low which will spread across southeast California between 18Z and 00Z then over southern Nevada between 00Z and 06Z this evening before moving into Northwest Arizona late this evening through early Sunday morning. This should produce about a 4-6 hour window of continuous moderate rainfall with pockets of brief heavy rain. Models have trended a little slower with this and the PoP/WX/QPF grids were adjusted accordingly. It still appears general rainfall amounts of 0.25-0.75 inches can be expected for the valleys and deserts. Strong south-southwest winds associated with the baroclinic zone will likely produce enhanced orographic precip and storm total amounts were raised over the Spring Mountains. Snow levels over Southern Nevada will generally hold above 8000 feet much of today then will drop to around 6000 feet between 6 PM and 10 PM PST this evening just as the deep moisture plume begins to move into Northwest Arizona. The town of Mt. Charleston will likely mainly see rain or a rain/snow mix and not much snow accumulation until this evening when snow levels drop and snowfall rates of 2-3 inches per hour will be possible. Lee Canyon and higher elevations are still on track to see at least 1-2 feet of new snow...and likely 3 feet at Charleston Peak. No change was made to the Winter Storm Warnings in effect for the mountains of Inyo County California and Southern Nevada. .LONG TERM...Sunday through Friday. Low pressure rapidly weakens and moves east of the area Sunday. This will give us a brief break between systems. Look for less cloud cover and showers tied mainly to the Sierra, portions of Lincoln County and northern Mohave County. Winds should be primarily tied to any shower activity that develops but otherwise light northwesterly. Temperatures should rebound a few degrees to around normal. The next system will be on its way Monday, barreling down along the west coast to near Monterey, CA by Tuesday afternoon. Strengthening gradients will lead to gusty south winds developing across much of the area Tuesday afternoon. The best chances for shower activity Monday will generally be tied to the Sierra and southern Nevada as expanding into Mohave County in northwest Arizona on Tuesday. Higher precip amounts are expected to be higher in the Sierra on Monday due to increasing jet dynamics as it rounds the base of the approaching low pressure system. Lighter amounts are forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday with more showery type precipitation expected as the low moves through the area. Improving conditions on Thursday as the system moves east followed by dry west to southwest flow on Friday. Temperatures start out near normal Sunday and Monday, drop off a couple of degrees Tuesday and end up around 10 degrees below normal Wed-Fri. Morning lows will approach the freezing mark in Las Vegas by Thursday morning. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...Deteriorating weather conditions expected today with increasing shower activity and lowering CIGs. In addition, periods of gusty southeast winds with gusts over 25 knots are likely during the day, shifting to the southwest late tonight. Rainfall should be light and sporadic during the day, with steady light to moderate rain moving in after sunset this evening, tapering off around midnight. Ceilings in the 4-8k range are expected, though they may drop below 3k during heavy precipitation. Gusty southwest winds are possible following the rainfall lasting into Sunday morning. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...Deteriorating weather conditions are expected area wide today as a moist Pacific weather system moves through. Widespread shower activity and south winds gusting to 30 knots or more are possible, with moderate rain moving through during the afternoon and evening hours. Low CIGs of 3-6k are likely along with mountain obscurations and low level turbulence. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && SHORT TERM...Adair LONG TERM...Salmen AVIATION...Outler For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: http://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
The Edwards AFB radar (KEYX), 129 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:02 UTC.
2 flash flood, 1 dense fog. Local standard time, as filed.
Dense fog reduced visibility to 250 feet or less in Yucca Valley and Morongo Valley.
Flooding and debris on Highway 190 at Towne Pass caused several vehicles to get stuck.
Numerous roads and intersections were flooded in Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree, at least four homes were flooded, at least four vehicles were stranded, and at least six swift water rescues occurred. One man was killed when his vehicle was swept away by flood waters.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood, San Bernardino | 2019-02-02 | 76 | Male | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Direct |
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: 805384, 805385, 805386.