A strong low pressure system moving into the West Coast brought areas of high wind and a dust storm to southern Nevada.
Every event with a place to put it; 5 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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 strong low pressure system moving into the West Coast brought areas of high wind and a dust storm to southern Nevada.
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 May 8, 10:43 AM PST, 3 hours 27 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 1143 AM PDT Sun May 8 2022 .SYNOPSIS....Widespread strong winds will diminish tonight. Additional weather systems will continue to move through the Great Basin through midweek, with temperatures trending cooler and blustery weather persisting. A warming trend will commence for the second half of the week with winds easing as high pressure gradually rebuilds across the region. && .SHORT TERM...Tonight through Monday. Strong winds will continue to impact the region through the evening and early overnight hours across the region as an upper level trough digs south. The strongest winds should be centered around 00Z as a strong vorticity lobe advects into the southern Great Basin. Areas of concern through the evening for wind impacts: [LAS VEGAS/SPRING MTS/SOUTHERN NV]: Models continue to show the strongest west winds pushing through the valley around 00Z, though there continues to be discrepancy in the model wind speed forecasts and how far west the stronger winds will spread. Hi-res local model cross-sections are a bit more favorable for downslope winds compared to previous runs with west winds pushing through at least Red Rock and Summerlin around 3-6 PM. The 15-min HRRR brings the strongest wind gusts through Harry Reid Airport around the same time. NBM probabilities for wind gusts over 60 MPH have come up for all areas west of the I-15, but remain low for the east portion of the valley. Given this meterologist's past experience in forecasting west wind events in Las Vegas, I have moderately high confidence that strong winds that mimic waves that will move across the entire valley at times this afternoon and evening, with gusts coming up quickly followed by a lull before another jump in wind gusts (and rinse/repeat through the evening hours). This wave pattern is noted on a few wind model fields. Mentioning all this just because even if all portions of Las Vegas don't hit 60 MPH, the nature eof the winds could drive impacts and people should be prepared for sudden gusty winds and strong crosswinds, especially on north-south roadways in and around the valley. The Spring Mountains and Red Rock will see strong winds through the evening. Gusts up to 60MPH may cause downed trees and power outages, and more importantly dry conditions would mean any fire starts would quickly spread. Further south, gusty winds across I-15 and US-95 are likely this afternoon with dust concerns as winds push through the dry lake beds in southern Nevada. Lake Mead will see west winds gusting 40-50MPH this afternoon and thus dangerous waves are likely and any light or small boats on the lake shores could easily be pushed into the lake as winds come up. [OWENS VALLEY]: Continued high confidence for sudden wind gusts across the highway and difficult travel through 7-9PM. Best downslope potential is after 21Z through 02Z. [DEATH VALLEY]: Some of the wind models bring a push of north winds through Death Valley after 21Z. While the wind speed forecast has not changed with this wind push, if these winds come through suddenly it may result in additional impacts due to dust in Death Valley and areas southwest of them this afternoon after 3PM. [MOHAVE NORTH OF I-40]: This is the area where winds and impacts may outperform as models continue to have a wide spread on peak winds and how long they will last. Currently thinking that any strong winds will be short lived, and a Wind Advisory communicated well the risk with these winds, but low confidence in those details. In addition, if sudden winds or stronger winds develop, dust will likely impact areas north and west of Kingman. The best chance for 60 MPH or greater gusts will be through the Arizona Strip in the Mt Trumbull and northern Hualapai Nation region. Winds will diminish tonight. No changes were made to the wind headlines and for the most part they look to be in good shape. San Bernardino may drop below High Wind Warning criteria later this evening but wind impacts will continue through the night and potentially even Monday morning. Winds on Monday will be breezy again as the upper level trough that brought winds today continues to meander through the region, but the pressure gradient is expected to slack somewhat overnight and thus winds will be lower tomorrow compared to today. The best chance for wind impacts will be in the West Mojave Desert, southern Inyo County, and southwest Nevada. A wind advisory may be needed for Monday in these areas. In addition to the wind advisory, critical fire conditions are possible on Monday in portions of the region as it will continue to be dry, though winds will be marginal for another Red Flag Warning. Will hold off adding more headlines at this time and will let that decision fall to later shifts as impacts on Monday should be minor and we should first see how today's wind event pans out. Temperatures will continue their downward trend on Monday, with high temperatures 5-10 degrees colder on Monday compared to today. .LONG TERM...Tuesday through Saturday. Model solution clusters show very good agreement that the trough which plagues our region with wind through the short term will still be in place along the West Coast Tuesday, leading to still more southwest winds and below normal temperatures areawide. Wind Advisories cannot be ruled out. Wednesday looks similar, with unseasonably cool temperatures and gusty winds, possibly reaching advisory levels, as the trough tracks slowly east. A solid majority of model solutions then show the trough minoring out and lifting away, leading to rising heights Thursday through Saturday, which would drive temperatures back above normal, but more importantly, provide a respite from the relentless springtime winds. There have been a few events already this spring in which long range models de-emphasized low pressure heading toward the West Coast, only for future model runs to finally catch on to a deeper, cooler, and windier solution which ended up verifying. So, while the good model agreement noted above justifies optimism, it is not a guarantee. && .FIRE WEATHER...Strong southwest winds will continue through this evening, with wind gusts of 40-60 mph expected across much of the region. These winds will be combined with low humidity and dry fuels resulting in widespread critical fire weather conditions. Winds will ease late tonight but resume each afternoon through at least Wednesday, though they will not be as strong as today's winds. Near- critical fire weather conditions possible each day through midweek before lighter winds return for the second half of next week. Cool temperatures are expected through Wednesday before temperatures quickly warm the second half of the week. && .AVIATION...For Harry Reid...Significant wind event still expected today across the Las Vegas Valley impacting the Harry Reid terminal. Initially southerly wind gusts will shift to the southwest early in the afternoon and increase in gust potential...as high as 50 kts by the middle of the afternoon. Airport Weather Warnings will be likely if these gusts indeed come to fruition this afternoon. Additionally, BLDU could reduce visibility to MVFR conditions during peak winds. These winds should begin to subside just before sunset and gradually decrease through the evening and overnight hours. A shift to northwest winds is expected early tomorrow morning, but confidence is low in direction as winds will be light. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...Significant wind impacts are expected over the next 12 hours for much of the region, resulting in poor flying conditions for all regional terminals. KDAG will maintain westerly winds throughout but likely will experience lowered visibility due to BLDU and gusts over 50 kts this afternoon. KBIH will continue to see strong downslope and potential low level shear/rotor issues resulting in significant turbulence in addition to strong surface winds. KIFP/KEED should be more minor regarding winds but will still remain gusty over 30 kts. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && SHORT TERM/FIRE...Nickerson LONG TERM...Morgan AVIATION...TB3 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
221 PM PDT SUN MAY 8 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0205 PM DUST STORM 3 S SPRING VALLEY 36.07N 115.24W
05/08/2022 CLARK NV PUBLIC
REPORTED 1/2M VISIBILITY AT RAINBOW AND 215
INTERSECTION, LOOKING TO HIS WEST,
VISIBILITY WAS DOWN TO <100Y. UNABLE TO SEE
SPRING MOUNTAINS FROM HIS LOCATION AT THAT
INTERSECTION.
1114 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 20 NNW LENWOOD 35.15N 117.18W
05/08/2022 M60 MPH SAN BERNARDINO CA MESONET
GUSTS OVER 58MPH BEGAN SOMETIME BETWEEN
10:14A & 11:14A.
0106 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 4 SSE YERMO 34.85N 116.79W
05/08/2022 M61 MPH SAN BERNARDINO CA PUBLIC
DAGGETT ASOS BEGAN GUSTING OVER 58 MPH AT
106 PM.
0926 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 19 S HAIWEE 35.87N 117.92W
05/07/2022 M60 MPH INYO CA MESONET
THE FIVE MILE RAWS SITE GUSTED TO 60 MPH AT
926 PM.
0126 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 19 S HAIWEE 35.87N 117.92W
05/08/2022 M66 MPH INYO CA MESONET
FIVE MILE RAWS SITE BEGAN GUSTING AGAIN OVER
58 MPH AT 126 PM.
0133 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 24 SSE LITTLEFIELD 36.58N 113.73W
05/08/2022 M63 MPH MOHAVE AZ MESONET
TWEEDS POINT BEGAN GUSTING OVER 58 MPH AT
133 PM.
&&
MWThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 high wind, 1 dust storm. Local standard time, as filed.
The peak measured gust occurred 1 mile ESE of Red Rock Canyon.
Dust storm conditions reduced visibility below 1/4 mile in Goldfield.
The peak measured gust occurred near Red Rock Casino. At least two trees and one large light pole were blown down.
The peak measured gust occurred 10 miles WNW of Gass Peak.
These gusts occurred 3 miles NE of Mount Charleston.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, May 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: 1026378, 1026380, 1026381, 1026382, 1026383.