California, 2024

Excessive Heat in California, August 4 to 6, 2024

August 4 to 6, 2024 · NWS VEF · 6 events in 6 counties and zones

Strong high pressure built in from the east, bringing a period of excessive heat.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 6 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
6

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS VEF wrote it up.

Strong high pressure built in from the east, bringing a period of excessive heat.

What forecasters said that day

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 4, 7:05 AM PST, 1 hour 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 4, 7:05 AM PST, 1 hour 55 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Las Vegas NV
805 AM PDT Sun Aug 4 2024

.SYNOPSIS...Dangerous heat will build through early next week as
high pressure builds across the region. Meanwhile, monsoonal
moisture will retreat into eastern Mohave County today and Monday
before slowly creeping back west Tuesday onward. Temperatures may
cool slightly by midweek but will remain well above normal.

&&

.UPDATE...Warmer and drier start to the day, with temperatures
running a few degrees higher than yesterday while surface dewpoints
are 5-10 degrees lower. The drier airmass is also noted in our
morning sounding, with PWAT now below 1". With less moisture around,
expect a continued decrease in storm coverage, with convection
limited Mohave County. Heat will be the main story the next few days
as high pressure builds in, leading to Major and Extreme HeatRisk
across the southeastern 2/3 of the CWA. Heat gets tempered slightly
in the 2nd half of the week as moisture and rain chances try to
spread west.

&&

.SHORT TERM...through Tuesday.

High pressure ridge over the Four Corners will intensify and
expand through Tuesday, resulting in increasing heat across our
region. High temperatures in Kingman yesterday tied a record for
the date, and similar heat is expected again today. Meanwhile,
points further west will see additional warming as well, with
high to extreme heat risk expanding across the deserts. The
excessive heat warning goes into effect today at 10 am and will
continue through Tuesday evening with well above normal
temperatures flirting with daily records expected. High heat risk
builds into Lincoln County by Monday and Tuesday , and have went
ahead and added them to the excessive heat warning for Monday and
Tuesday as well.

Meanwhile, monsoonal moisture has largely retreated into
northwest Arizona. Isolated thunderstorms will be possible this
afternoon and evening mainly across central and eastern parts of
Mohave County, with locally gusty winds and brief heavy rain
possible. Similar storm coverage is expected Monday before
monsoonal moisture begins to creep back west Tuesday ahead of a
disturbance moving into southern Arizona. This feature will likely
enhance storm coverage across Northwest Arizona and perhaps our
southernmost Mojave Desert zones as well.

.LONG TERM...Wednesday through next weekend.

By the 2nd half of the week, ensemble guidance shows an easterly
wave moving along the AZ-Mexico border. The EPS continues to be
weaker and farther south with this feature, though the GEFS has
trended towards this solution as well. This trend in the GEFS is
perhaps most apparent in the 24-hr PoPs, which reveal a significant
reduction and retraction towards the southeast. Should the
weaker/farther south track come to fruition, we can expect
conditions Wednesday-Friday to be fairly similar to those on Monday-
Tuesday, with perhaps slightly higher precip chances across our
southern CWA and a subtle cooldown if there is notable cloud
cover.

&&

.AVIATION...For Harry Reid...Light and variable wind early this
morning under some passing high clouds above 20 kft. Light easterly
wind develops late morning through early afternoon with some lower
clouds developing over the higher terrain. After 21Z, the wind
direction should shift more out of the south. Typical south-
southwest direction overnight. Wind speeds will remain 10 kts or
less through the period.

For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast
California...Widely scattered showers and thunderstorms across
northwest Arizona this afternoon and evening. Winds will favor
typical diurnal tendencies generally at 10 kts or less. Winds at KDAG
will have a strong westerly component late this afternoon and
evening with gusts up to 20 kts. Lower probability of occurrence is
the arrival of stronger southeasterly outflow winds into lower
Colorado River Valley after 06Z tonight.

&&

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report
any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating
procedures.

&&

UPDATE...Woods
SHORT TERM...Outler
LONG TERM...Woods
AVIATION...Pierce

For more forecast information...see us on our webpage:
https://weather.gov/lasvegas or follow us on Facebook and Twitter

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

6 excessive heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Excessive Heat, Death Valley National Park

When
August 4, 9:00 AM PST to August 6, 8:00 PM PST
Where
Death Valley National Park forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
36.511, -117.411 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat Warning criteria were reached on three straight days.

Excessive Heat, Western Mojave Desert

When
August 4, 9:00 AM PST to August 6, 8:00 PM PST
Where
Western Mojave Desert forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
34.841, -116.178 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat Warning criteria were reached on three straight days.

Excessive Heat, Eastern Mojave Desert

When
August 4, 9:00 AM PST to August 6, 8:00 PM PST
Where
Eastern Mojave Desert forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
34.841, -116.178 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat Warning criteria were reached on three straight days.

Excessive Heat, Morongo Basin

When
August 4, 9:00 AM PST to August 6, 8:00 PM PST
Where
Morongo Basin forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
34.841, -116.178 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat Warning criteria were reached on three straight days.

Excessive Heat, Cadiz Basin

When
August 4, 9:00 AM PST to August 6, 8:00 PM PST
Where
Cadiz Basin forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
34.841, -116.178 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat Warning criteria were reached on three straight days.

Excessive Heat, San Bernardino County-Upper Colorado River Valley

When
August 4, 9:00 AM PST to August 6, 8:00 PM PST
Where
San Bernardino County-Upper Colorado River Valley forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
34.841, -116.178 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat Warning criteria were reached on three straight days.

What these are

Excessive Heat
Heat at or above the local excessive heat warning criteria, or heat that caused deaths.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in California in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in California, August 2024

Sources

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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1207857, 1207858, 1207859, 1207860, 1207861, 1207862.