A brief intrusion of monsoon moisture brought spotty thunderstorms to the Mojave Desert. A couple of strong storms caused wind damage and flooding in the Las Vegas Valley.
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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 brief intrusion of monsoon moisture brought spotty thunderstorms to the Mojave Desert. A couple of strong storms caused wind damage and flooding in the Las Vegas Valley.
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 31, 8:38 AM PST, 5 hours 1 minute earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 938 AM PDT Wed Jul 31 2019 .SYNOPSIS...Shower and thunderstorm chances will spread from Mohave County into southeast Nevada and far southeast California today, with a risk of isolated flash flooding. Drier air coming in from the west will decrease thunderstorm chances Thursday and especially Friday, and temperatures will rise back above normal over the weekend. Moisture could spread back westward early next week. && .UPDATE...Abundant moisture this morning across roughly the eastern one third of our CWA. The 9 am RAP analysis shows 2 inch precipitable water values touching our far southern regions of the Colorado River Valley with a well defined moisture axis extending up through the Colorado River Valley into far southeast Lincoln County. Thunderstorms have fired off this morning primarily along and east of this moisture axis. Expect an active thunderstorm day today with the primary focus over Mohave County, the Colorado River Valley, northeast Clark County and central/southern Lincoln County. With this area sitting in the right entrance of an upper level jet, 1-2 inch PWATs, 12-14 degree 850 mb dewpoint temps and 1000+ J/kg of available CAPE forecast, expect storms to be rain efficient and capable of producing intense rain rates and localized flash flooding. Abundant cloud cover may limit activity initially but is beginning to erode already which will allow daytime heating to come into play as well to help destabilize the atmosphere. -Salmen && .PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...250 AM PDT... .DISCUSSION...Not much happening in our CWA yet as of 230 AM. A couple of impressive storms reached the La Paz/Mohave border from the south and then fizzled, very much in line with some of the high resolution model guidance. Much of the guidance still suggests that storms will fire over Mohave County by sunrise, then spread as far west as eastern Lincoln County, the Clark County mountains, the Mojave National Preserve, and perhaps the Colorado River Valley during the day. Kicked around the idea of a Flash Flood Watch, but decided against it due to uncertainty in whether the extensive cloud cover today might hamper thunderstorm formation. Thanks for coordination WPC, PSR, FGZ, and SLC. Some storms could linger overnight as models suggest lifted indices between -2 and -5 persisting all night. Drier air pushing in from the west should limit thunderstorm chances to Mohave County on Thursday, with only spotty storms if any expected on Friday. Extensive cloud cover today will keep temperatures well below normal, then as the drier air moves in, more sunshine will push temps back up above normal by the weekend, although that could be short lived as another push of moisture is expected Sunday or Monday. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...South to southeast winds around 10kts will continue though the morning before increasing around midday, with gusts to around 20kts likely this afternoon. Scattered thunderstorms are possible this afternoon in and around the airspace, with the highest coverage of convection through the south and east corridors. Ceilings with any precipitation will lower, with BKN cigs below 10kft possible. There is a chance for outflow winds from thunderstorms this afternoon and early evening, however confidence is low at this time. Thunderstorms should diminish this evening, and it will be dry tonight and Thursday morning. Outside of thunderstorm influence, gusts will end around sunset, with lighter south winds likely overnight than we have seen the past few days. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...Scattered showers and thunderstorms will continue to push northward into western Arizona this morning and afternoon, and may impact Colorado River TAF sites. Confidence is low if and when storms would arrive, so continued with VCTS at the moment. Confidence in wind speed and direction through this area is low as convection may be capable of kicking off outflow winds in Southern Nevada and western Arizona. Associated broken clouds will lower to around 10 kft through the remainder of the TAF period for northwestern Arizona and southern Nevada TAF sites, with lower ceilings possible with any precipitation. Southeastern California TAF sites expected to stay dry with increasing mid-level clouds through the period. Convection will diminish this evening, and it should be dry overnight into Thursday morning with lighter winds following typical nighttime wind patterns expected. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && DISCUSSION...Morgan AVIATION...Wolf For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: http://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
The Las Vegas radar (KESX), 45 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:36 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds downed two trees at the intersection of Rainbow and Erie in Las Vegas.
Six to eight inches of water flowed through the intersection of Blue Diamond and Rainbow.
Several hours after a thunderstorm, water flowing through a wash overcame a berm and spilled into a neighborhood. Cars were stranded, and the water was waist deep in places. Water neared, but did not enter, homes. It took until the next morning for the water to recede (thus, this event continued into August).
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, July 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: 839746, 839754, 839758.