A cold front moving through the Mojave Desert helped lift an unstable air mass, producing scattered thunderstorms. Isolated severe weather occurred.
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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 cold front moving through the Mojave Desert helped lift an unstable air mass, producing scattered thunderstorms. Isolated severe weather occurred.
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 Apr 12, 12:41 PM PST, 54 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 141 PM PDT Sun Apr 12 2020 .SYNOPSIS...Parts of the area could see showers and isolated thunderstorms through Monday as well as breezy conditions. Dry weather is expected Tuesday through Thursday with temperatures below normal Monday and Tuesday and above normal Wednesday and Thursday. Another system could bring more shower activity and slightly cooler temperatures to the area on Friday before warm and dry weather returns for the weekend. && .SHORT TERM...tonight and Monday. Shower and thunderstorm chances continue this evening across portions of Mohave, Clark, Inyo, southern Nye and northeast San Bernardino counties with chances primarily east of Las Vegas overnight including the Colorado River Valley and Mohave County. Windy conditions in the Western Mojave Desert early in the evening is expected to decrease overnight. On Monday, shower chances linger across portions of Mohave County with dry conditions and below normal temperatures. Winds are forecast to increase late in the afternoon Monday in northern Inyo County, across the Western Mojave Desert and across the southern Great Basin. Tuesday through Saturday...models have a dry northwest flow over the area Tuesday and Wednesday which then transitions to westerly ahead of an approaching upstream system moving south parallel to the coastline. This system could bring another round of showers to the area on Friday. Temperatures remain on the cool side of normal Tuesday before warm back to normal or above Wednesday and Thursday. Next weekend looks dry and mild with above normal temperatures. However, there is some uncertainty with that and this lowers forecast confidence. .AVIATION...For McCarran...South to southwest winds gusting 25 to 30 knots will continue through sunset ahead of a cold front. As the front draws closer this evening, winds will lull, clouds will increase and ceilings will lower. The front is expected to come through shortly before midnight, with winds shifting to northerly, and the best chance of light showers and ceilings below 5000 feet coming between midnight and 4 AM. Ceilings will rise and clouds will scatter out Monday morning. Winds will be tricky, as high resolution models show north northwest winds coming through the Yucca Gap and northeast winds coming through the Apex Gap Monday morning. These winds often converge right over the airfield, causing forecasting and runway configuration headaches. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...A cold front was over the southern Great Basin this afternoon, with gusty south southwest winds over the Mojave Desert and gusty north winds, lower cloud ceilings, and spotty rain and snow showers over the southern Great Basin. As this front sags south this evening, the wind shift, lower ceilings, and chances for rain and snow showers will spread south with it. Clouds will lift and decrease over the southern Great Basin Monday morning, and over the Mojave Desert Monday evening. North winds gusting 20 to 30 knots can be expected over much of the area Monday, with the strongest winds northwest of I-15. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && DISCUSSION...Salmen AVIATION...Gorelow For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: https://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
The Las Vegas radar (KESX), 15 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:35 UTC.
1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
One inch hail covered Highway 95 about 8 miles south of the Highway 93 interchange.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, April 2020
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: 878072.