A Pacific low pressure system brought gusty south winds to the Mojave Desert, with isolated high winds observed.
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 Pacific low pressure system brought gusty south winds to the Mojave Desert, with isolated high winds observed.
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 Mar 3, 3:18 PM MST, 2 hours 33 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 218 PM PST Wed Mar 3 2021 .SYNOPSIS...A low pressure system will bring scattered light showers to mainly northwest Arizona tonight through early Thursday morning. High pressure will briefly build in afterward bringing warmer temperatures heading into the weekend. A fast moving system will bring another bout of stronger winds Saturday followed by a cooling trend and windy periods early next week. && .SHORT TERM...Tonight through Friday. The incoming SoCal closed low looks fairly impressive on satellite loops, but will produce minimal impacts for our forecast area tonight and will be gone by Thursday morning as it pulls away across the Four Corners Region. Surface observations showed south winds were responding as expected across Mohave County with gusts of 35-45 mph. Extensive clouds on the leading edge of the system will spread across our region through this evening then decrease from west to east overnight through early Thursday morning. Scattered showers will be most favorable over Mohave County, eastern Lincoln and northeast Clark counties this evening. Amounts will generally be 0.10" or less though local amounts up to 0.25" are possible in the Hualapai mountains and northwest Plateau. A few sprinkles are possible around other areas of southern Nevada and southeast California, but measurable rain should be confined to the aforementioned areas. An amplified ridge of high pressure extending up over Idaho and Montana Thursday will slowly move to the east on Friday which will provide mostly clear skies, fairly light wind and a warming trend with highs in the lower to mid 70s across the Mojave Desert zones and around 80 along the Colorado River Valley. .LONG TERM...Saturday through Wednesday. Southwest winds will increase Saturday in response to a trough quickly brushing northern California and Nevada but speeds looks to be generally 15-20 mph in the afternoon with gusts to 30 mph for most of the forecast area. A brief ridge will follow Saturday night and Sunday with temperatures holding several degrees above normal. Multiple Pacific troughs are then forecast to swing into the West Coast and Great Basin Monday through Wednesday which will mainly produce prolonged gusty southwest winds and a cooling trend with slight chances of precipitation for the southern Sierra and mountains of south central Nevada and northwest Arizona. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...Weather system moving into the southwest CONUS today will bring southerly breezes through this evening along with increased cloud cover. Winds will initially be from the south southeast, before turning south and southwest later this evening. Expect sustained winds of 12-15 knots with gusts to around 25 knots. Skies will clear out overnight and winds will decrease through tonight becoming light by 12-13Z. Light, diurnal winds expected Thursday under mostly clear skies. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...Breezy to gusty southerly winds will continue across much of the region with gusts to 15-25 knots through this evening. Strongest winds will be down the Colorado River and across Mohave County where gusts to 25-35 knots will be possible. Winds will decrease overnight becoming mostly light and diurnal tomorrow. BKN to OVC mid-high cloud cover aoa 10-15 Kft will continue through tonight with mostly clear skies expected tomorrow. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && SHORT TERM/LONG TERM...FIRE WEATHER...Adair AVIATION...Kryston For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: https://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
433 PM PST WED MAR 3 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0338 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 6 S NEEDLES 34.77N 114.62W
03/03/2021 M60 MPH SAN BERNARDINO CA ASOS
REPORTED AT KEED.
&&
AN1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The peak measured gust occurred at the Kingman Airport (KIGM). A power line was also blown down in the city of Kingman.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arizona in 2021Every state in 2021This day in weather historyWarnings in Arizona, March 2021
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: 938875.