Persistent moist monsoonal flow fueled thunderstorms over northwest Arizona. Several storms produced flash flooding.
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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.
Persistent moist monsoonal flow fueled thunderstorms over northwest Arizona. Several storms produced flash flooding.
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 Aug 17, 1:42 PM MST, 1 hour 40 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 142 PM PDT Wed Aug 17 2022 .SYNOPSIS...Thunderstorm chances will continue through Saturday before high pressure building in from the Pacific brings a temporary break Sunday through Tuesday. Locally heavy rain will be possible with thunderstorms, with the greatest risk in and east of Mohave County. Temperatures will hover slightly below normal, more so in areas which see the most clouds and rain. && .SHORT TERM...through tonight. Early afternoon satellite loop showed scattered thunderstorms bubbling near and southeast of I-15, with shallower cumulus farther north and west. Surface obs showed light winds away from thunderstorms, and temperatures a few degrees higher than 24 hours ago. The main concerns with thunderstorms this afternoon and evening are heavy rain/flash flooding and strong downburst winds. A tongue of precipitable water at or above 1.5 inches which will fuel heavy rain potential was located up the Colorado River Valley, including eastern San Bernardino, western Mohave, and southern Clark counties. Drier air above the deeper moisture, as evidenced by 6.95 um water vapor imagery, will be available for entrainment into taller updrafts, fueling downburst wind potential. High resolution models are showing potential for thunderstorms over the southern Great Basin to persist through the evening and overnight, where strong winds will be more of a threat than heavy rain. .LONG TERM...Thursday through the Weekend. The focus of the long term is the remnants of the tropical system that impacted the Texas Gulf Coast a few days ago. The aforementioned Pacific trough will shift northeast and EC/GEFS means indicate a broad area of high pressure setting up off the coast. This would serve to effectively block the tropical moisture from progressing farther west and into the Pacific, but instead halt its motion over southern Arizona and set the stage for a multiple periods of heavy rainfall over the southern half of the state, from Thursday night into Sunday. That high pressure over the Pacific may continue to build into the weekend and shift slowly eastward, when it does, the troughing over Arizona deforms and stretches out, lessening the focused lifting over southern Arizona but distributing vort maxes across much of the state. This should serve to bring widespread heavy rainfall across much of the state, including Mohave County, and perhaps as far west as the Mojave Preserve and the CRV. As of now, GEFS/EC/GEM agree in keeping the heaviest QPF along and south of the I-40 corridor, but this would put many of the hardest hit areas of Mohave County in the area of concern for further flash flooding impacts such as Golden Valley, Kingman, and the Hualapai Mountains. There is still some uncertainty however, as the ridge could build in quicker and push the moisture swath farther east per some of the minority clusters. There does appear to be a pretty stark PoP/QPF gradient as a result of this ridge building in, which is currently keeps much of Inyo, Esmeralda, Nye, and western San Bernardino more or less dry. But if the forecast trends wetter or even maintains its current expectations, then would think that a FF Watch again for at least Mohave looks like a safe bet for Friday and Saturday. && .AVIATION...For Harry Reid...Scattered thunderstorms are expected once again through this afternoon and into the early evening mainly over the higher terrain surrounding the Las Vegas Valley. While there is a slight chance that storms could directly affect the terminal late this afternoon and early evening, a more likely scenario is for gusty winds from outflows to move through the area this evening, and this is included in the TAF. Outside of thunderstorm activity today, winds should be light with skies SCT AOA 12kft. Additional thunderstorm activity is expected on Thursday, possibly starting earlier in the day near 18Z. Again, it looks like most will remain over the higher terrain, but can rule out a storm developing in the valley. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...Scattered thunderstorms are expected area-wide once again today and into this evening. Storms are expected to develop over the higher terrain surrounding KBIH by mid-afternoon, possibly directly affecting the field after 22Z. Storms will be more scattered in nature near KDAG with the activity expected mainly during the late afternoon or early evening. The Lower Colorado River Valley sites will see the best chance of storms during the evening hours. Outside of thunderstorm activity, light winds favoring typical diurnal trends are expected along with skies SCT AOA 12kft. Outside of any outflow boundary influences overnight, winds will remain light. Another day of scattered mainly afternoon and evening thunderstorms expected Thursday potentially affecting all TAF sites. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && SHORT TERM...Morgan LONG TERM...TB3 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), 115 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:20 UTC.
11 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Hackberry Road was closed from Highway 66 to Main Street.
Short Creek flooded all the road crossings in Colorado City.
A swift water rescue was performed.
Boundary Cone Road was closed.
Oatman Highway was closed.
Cane Beds Road was closed near East 3100, and Rosy Canyon Road was closed to the UT state line.
Oatman Highway was closed.
Oatman Highway was closed.
Several roads flooded and one car was floated.
Shinarump Drive was flooded.
Short Creek flooded Hildale Street.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arizona in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Arizona, August 2022
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: 1054917, 1054919, 1054921, 1054946, 1054963, 1054995, 1054998, 1055000, 1055003, 1055006, 1055007, 1055009.