Thunderstorm, small hail hits Henderson during July heat wave

An isolated thunderstorm and flash flooding were reported in Henderson on Monday afternoon after a Sunday high of 116 in the Las Vegas Valley tied the record for July 16, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service tweeted that Monday’s storm around 2 p.m. near Sam Boyd Stadium moved north-northeast along the east side of the valley and produced wind gusts up to 40 mph, rainfall and lightning.

Henderson and Boulder Beach in Lake Mead National Recreation Area were under a severe thunderstorm warning Monday afternoon.

Pea-sized hail was observed in Henderson on Monday afternoon. National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Planz said the falling ice is “not unheard of,” but “definitely not common” in Southern Nevada.

“Here it does occur. If you get a strong enough storm, you do have a chance of getting hail,” Planz said, “but it’s not gonna be anything large.”

Pea-sized (or smaller) hail observed in Henderson.

Severe Thunderstorm Warning continues for the area until 4pm PDT.#VegasWx https://t.co/tU4un4HCM2

— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) July 17, 2023

As of 5:15 p.m. Monday evening, the Clark County Regional Flood Control District reported over half-an-inch of rain at four different measurement sensors throughout Henderson. Throughout the city, precipitation measurements ranged from 0.04 inches to 0.59, not counting the sensor on Black Mountain, which counted over an eighth of an inch of rain.

A flash flood warning was in effect in the area until 6:30 p.m.

“Continuous rain has saturated the lower-levels in Henderson by Black Mountain,” the weather service tweeted. “Heavy rain is falling, resulting in flash flooding of trails and roads around Black Mountain.”

Rain or storms will also be “a decent shot on Tuesday” and conditions are possible the rest of the week, weather service meteorologist Trevor Boucher said Sunday.

Planz said the recent hot temperatures in the valley can add to instability and movement in the air, which can lead to large thunderstorms such as the one in Henderson on Monday.

“With it being so hot, it adds a lot to that instability, which helped get these pretty strong thunderstorms,” Planz said.

The Tuesday morning low should be around 91 with winds gusting as high as 22 mph overnight.

Tuesday should have a high near 112 with south winds of 7-12 mph rising to 13-18 mph in the afternoon and gusts to 28 mph possible.

Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Marv_in_Vegas on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Mark Credico contributed to this report.