Strong low and mid level jets ahead of a deep low over the Pacific Northwest brought downslope winds to the Spring Mountains and Las Vegas Valley.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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.
Strong low and mid level jets ahead of a deep low over the Pacific Northwest brought downslope winds to the Spring Mountains and Las Vegas Valley.
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 31, 3:41 PM PST, 2 hours 53 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 441 PM PDT Mon Mar 31 2025 .SYNOPSIS...Strong winds will continue through this evening as a powerful spring weather system moves through. As a result of these winds, patchy blowing dust and difficult driving conditions are expected. Temperatures will peak today and tomorrow before cooling through the remainder of the week. Light showers will be possible favoring the higher terrain tomorrow but otherwise dry conditions look to continue through the week for the majority of our forecast area. && .SHORT TERM...through Tuesday night. Winds have slowly been ramping up early this afternoon ahead of a deep trough that is sagging into the Great Basin tonight. So far, strongest winds of 45-55 mph have been across pockets of the Owens Valley, and the far southern edge of the Las Vegas Valley, with widespread gusty conditions elsewhere. Strongest 700 and 850mb flow will dip south early this evening when the strongest winds remain forecast, and the best chances of wind gusts exceeding 58 mph across the far western and southern edges of the Las Vegas Valley, especially west of Rainbow Blvd and extending westward to Red Rock Canyon. Strong winds remain possible in the Owens Valley, though some light spill over showers across the northern Owens Valley have kept some of the stronger downslope winds at bay. Nonetheless, strong downslope winds remain possible, especially south of Big Pine, through this evening. Strong winds will gradually shift their focus southward tonight, becoming limited to San Bernardino County by Tuesday. Meanwhile, with broad troughing and cold temperatures aloft, a few light showers (probable virga in the lower elevations) will be possible with daytime heating, especially across the Southern Great Basin. Temperatures tomorrow will be sharply cooler, with afternoon highs topping out several degrees below normal. .LONG TERM...Wednesday through Sunday. The overhead trough gets reinforced on Wednesday as a shortwave moves in from the PacNW. While there won't be much moisture to work with, the additional cooling of the upper-levels should foster some minor instability. Forecast soundings from TPH and IGM show anywhere from 50 to 250 J/kg of CAPE Wednesday afternoon. With sufficient surface heating and cyclonic flow aloft, isolated to scattered showers (and maybe a few rumbles of thunder) are possible. Best chances are on the high terrain of Lincoln, Mohave, and Clark counties where PoPs are 30-60%. Snow levels at this time are forecast to be around 5000 feet, so minor snow accumulations are possible in the higher elevations. As additional shortwaves merge into the larger trough, it tries to wrap up into a closed low somewhere over the Desert Southwest and slowly meander eastward. Where this occurs, expect a similar setup as described above. However, guidance shows considerable spread in the low's placement, leading to low (less than 30%) PoPs each afternoon in the same areas. As guidance comes into better agreement on the trough's evolution, confidence in any late-week/weekend precipitation chances will increase. Beyond the precipitation, the continued presence of the trough keeps breezy and unseasonably cool conditions around. Some lingering wind impacts are possible early Wednesday morning across southwestern San Bernardino County, but otherwise the chance of impactful winds remains below 50% across the CWA from Wednesday through Sunday. Temperatures remain 6-10 degrees below normal until the weekend when they finally begin to moderate closer to seasonal values. && .AVIATION...For Harry Reid...For the 00Z Forecast Package...Gusty winds remain the primary aviation concern this forecast period. Southwesterly winds will continue the first couple hours of the forecast period, with intermittent gusts to 30-40KT expected. The fly in the ointment is a rotor expected to develop downwind of the Spring Mountains, impacting KLAS, from roughly 02Z-07Z. Under the influence of this rotor, surface winds will vary between the northeast and east to southeast, while winds aloft will remain strong out of the west-southwest. There is uncertainty in the precise timing of this feature, thus will monitor trends and amend as needed this evening. High-resolution guidance is supportive of this feature, progged to dissipate by around 08Z as west- southwesterly winds resume at the surface and aloft. Wind gusts are expected to diminish around 12Z with sustained speeds dropping to around 10KT, ahead of a northwesterly shift around 16Z, and a return to southwesterly winds by mid afternoon. VFR conditions will prevail, with potential for brief localized visibility reductions early in the period due to lofted blowing dust. Otherwise, ceilings above 10-15kft will mitigate any ceiling- related operational impacts. For the rest of southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southeast California...For the 00Z Forecast Package...Gusty winds are the main concern at all terminals the next 24 hours. In the Las Vegas Valley, trends will roughly mirror those at KLAS, with a rotor expected to develop and impact KVGT between 02Z-07Z. This will result in easterly surface winds, while winds aloft remain gusty out of the southwest. Uncertainty increases at KHND, which high- resolution guidance progs to be right on the edge of this feature. However, expect southwesterly winds to largely prevail at KHND due to proximity to the higher terrain and stronger downslope winds. Gusts will continue overnight, before diminishing around 12-13Z with sustained speeds dropping to around 10KT. By mid morning, winds shift to the northwest, becoming gusty for several hours at KVGT. At KBIH, winds have remained easterly to southeasterly this afternoon, with stronger westerly winds not making it to the terminal. Expect this trend to continue, with southeasterly winds shifting to the north after sunset. Thereafter, northerly winds will continue with intermittent gusts to 18-25KT, prior to a westerly shift after 18Z when winds increase with gusts to 30KT expected. Winds at KDAG will remain unidirectional out of the west, with gusts to 30-40KT through the forecast period. KEED and KIFP will see elevated and at least intermittently gusty west-southwesterly winds through this evening, before gusts diminish after sunset. Thereafter, KIFP will see winds with sustained speeds around 10KT, varying between the south and northeast, and KEED will maintain a westerly component with a return of 20-25KT gusts during the morning. Otherwise, VFR conditions prevail with mid and high clouds at or above 15kft. && .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...Spotters are encouraged to report any significant weather or impacts according to standard operating procedures. && SHORT TERM...Outler LONG TERM...Woods AVIATION...Phillipson 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
449 PM PDT Mon Mar 31 2025
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1026 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 19 S Haiwee 35.87N 117.92W
03/30/2025 M66 MPH Inyo CA Mesonet
Five Mile RAWS measured gusts at or above 58 mph
from 1026 to 1326. Peak gust was 66 mph at
1026. FMRC1.
0142 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 5 NW Independence 36.84N 118.27W
03/30/2025 M65 MPH Inyo CA Mesonet
Oak Creek RAWS measured gusts at or above 58
mph from 1342 to 1542. Peak gust 65 mph at
1442. IDPC1.
0250 PM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 2 SSW Round Valley 37.39N 118.61W
03/30/2025 M66 MPH Inyo CA Mesonet
Rovana South SCE site measured gusts at or
above 58 mph from 1450 to 1600. Peak gust 66
mph at 1510. 617SE.
&&
SOULATThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
These gusts occurred 1 mile ESE of Red Rock Canyon.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Nevada in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in Nevada, March 2025
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: 1248766, 1248767.