Scattered afternoon thunderstorms occurred over the Mojave Desert. One produced damage from a lightning strike.
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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.
Scattered afternoon thunderstorms occurred over the Mojave Desert. One produced damage from a lightning strike.
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 Jun 23, 12:51 PM PST, 4 hours 54 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 151 PM PDT Wed Jun 23 2021 .SYNOPSIS...Chances for showers and thunderstorms will return Thursday, mainly over Lincoln, Clark, and Mohave counties. The stronger storms will be capable of producing frequent lightning, strong winds, briefly heavy rain, and small hail. Unseasonably cool temperatures are expected again Thursday, especially in areas which receive rain, before a warming trend sends temperatures back to normal Friday and above normal over the weekend. && .SHORT TERM...through Thursday night. Thick cloud cover over much of the area today has kept temperatures down and prevented instability from being realized. Thus, lightning has been nearly absent all day. However, there are breaks in the clouds, so cannot rule out some storms popping later in the afternoon. Due to the extreme fuel conditions, will continue to err on the side of caution and leave the Red Flag Warning in place. If any storms do develop, they should dissipate quickly after sunset. Drier low level air moves in from the west tonight, and for the second straight day, the trend is for slower eastward progression of this drying. Mid level drying is already nearing the southwest corner of our CWA and will progress northeastward overnight, so early morning debris clouds should be minimized. Thus, most of Lincoln, Clark, and Mohave counties should be in a favorable convective environment Thursday, with moist low level air, dry mid level air, and solar heating. Storms Thursday should be predominantly wet, so no plans to extend the Red Flag Warning at this time. Storms should again dissipate shortly after sunset. .LONG TERM...Friday through Monday. Dry conditions are expected Friday through the weekend as high pressure builds over the West Coast. Strong ridging is expected through Sunday, though models differ on how strong the ridge will get. Either way, increasing temperatures are likely with above normal likely starting Saturday. Comparatively, this next round of heat does not look as hot as the one we just had but some locations in California and southern Nevada could still see high heat risk and potential heat impacts through the weekend into the beginning of next week. Low confidence for another push of moisture for the beginning of next week, but too early to anticipate where and when precipitation could develop (if at all). No widespread wind issues are expected through the beginning of next week. && .AVIATION...For McCarran...Scattered showers will continue to move through Clark County into this evening with the added possibility of isolated storms after 22z. West to southwest winds continue this afternoon at speeds of 10-15 knots gusting up to 25 knots at times. Erratic wind changes will be possible this afternoon and are dependent on where activity sets up around the Las Vegas Valley. Therefore, there is low confidence in the wind forecast for this afternoon and evening. By 06z, any lingering activity should dissipate and winds will drop to 8 knots or less becoming variable at times. West to southwesterly winds of 10-15 knots will be possible after 15z tomorrow with storms expected to initiate after 18z. Storms will once again create a tricky wind forecast for the valley but with the higher elevations most likely seeing early initiation, westerly to southwesterly wind gusts are the most probably origination for those outflow winds. Clouds between 8k-10k feet are expected through tonight which could become broken with any showers or storms. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...An area of scattered showers continues to shift northeastward across much of the area today with embedded isolated storms possible after 21z. VCSH transitioning to VCTS has been included at all sites except KBIH which is on the far northern periphery of the area of precipitation. KDAG has the best chances of seeing a direct impact from storms this afternoon and a tempo for increased winds and broken low clouds with thunderstorms has been included. Otherwise, activity should wane this evening with clouds decreasing overnight. Expect gusty, erratic winds around any shower or storm activity this afternoon and evening. Storms will be possible again on Thursday, after 18z, across Lincoln, Clark, and Mohave counties. && .FIRE WEATHER...A Red Flag Warning remains in effect through this evening for much of southern Nevada and NW Arizona for the potential of dry thunderstorms. Thursday will bring more shower and thunderstorm activity to mainly Lincoln, Clark, and Mohave counties. These storms should be almost exclusively wet, so at this time, the Red Flag Warning will not be extended. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && SHORT TERM...Morgan LONG TERM...Salmen AVIATION...Guillet FIRE WEATHER...Morgan For more forecast information...see us on our webpage: https://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
The Edwards AFB radar (KEYX), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:43 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a power pole along Interstate 40 1/2 mile east of Hector Road.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2021Every state in 2021This day in weather historyWarnings in California, June 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: 969717.