Floods, snow top Nevada weather lists

Monday, Jan. 3, 2000 | 12:01 p.m.

The July 8, 1999, flood that resulted in one death and caused $23 million in damage in the Las Vegas Valley was named by professional weather observers as one of the top weather events of the century.

The lists covered two areas. Las Vegas meteorologists picked 12 of the most significant weather phenomena in southern Nevada and the Mojave Desert during the past 100 years. Seven flash floods, four major snowstorms and a tornado near Kingman, Ariz., made the list, which didn't attempt to rank the events.

But a separate statewide poll ranked the 10 most significant events of the century. Coming out on top was a January 1949 snowstorm.

During the storm, nearly 17 inches of snow fell on Las Vegas, and 40 inches fell on Pioche. More than 25 percent of the cattle on Nevada ranges were lost, but a large airlift of hay into snow-covered areas in rural Nevada saved many cattle.

"Floods and snowstorms are what makes news day in and day out," said Phil Palmer, a Weather Service data manager. "Not the heat and dry weather."

Paul Skrbac, climatologist at the Weather Service's Las Vegas office, said the July 8 flood that struck Las Vegas was the event on their list that caused the most financial damage. However, the $23 million in damages were but a fraction of the $500 million caused by New Year's Day flooding in the Reno area in 1997.

The Las Vegas list was compiled from Weather Service records, newspaper accounts, the state climatologist's office, the U.S. Geological Survey and personal accounts from the Internet.

State Climatologist John James said it's clear the emphasis was placed on financial damages that resulted from major storms, not on weather events themselves.

The 1999 flash floods were significant, but James doubts they would have caused too many problems had they occurred 50 years ago in sparsely populated Las Vegas.

The Reno flash flood caused two deaths, and the state poll ranked this as the second most significant weather event in Nevada this century.

In terms of statewide significance, James said the cold snap of December 1990 and the heat wave of July 1931 - when Las Vegas unofficially hit a record high of 118 degrees and Reno saw 106 degrees - should have made the list.

In the former case, temperatures in Boulder City fell to nine degrees. The temperature was 46 below zero in Mountain City in northeastern Nevada.

Failing to make either list was the record-breaking heat wave in Laughlin in June 1994. Temperatures there reached 125 degrees, the state record, on June 29. Between June 24 and July 2 that year afternoon temperatures in Laughlin climbed above 120 degrees every day.