More showers soak valley as Las Vegas sees its second-wettest April
In the Las Vegas Valley, April is known for its sunny, very dry and not-too-hot-yet weather.
Not this year.
This month, the valley has felt more like Seattle at times, with a consistent pattern of cooler-than-normal, rainy conditions. And it may continue into the first week of May.
By 10 a.m. Saturday, the valley had seen .29 inches of rain and 1.62 inches for the month, said meteorologist Jim Harrison of the National Weather Service.
Saturday’s rain elevates this month as the second-wettest April in the region’s history.
Rainfall was 0.93. That figure breaks the record for the rainiest April 30 set in 1973 with .35 inches, according to meteorologist Clay Morgan.
Normally, April is the third-driest month of the year. However, numerous areas of low pressure have moved through Southern Nevada, causing an “unusual pattern” of rainfall this month, Harrison said.
“This is all by chance,” Harrison said, explaining the weather patterns this month have been pretty uncommon, and it’s not due to El Niño. April is usually the third driest month of the year,
The overall rainfall record for the month of April is 2.44 inches, set in 1965. The monthly rainfall this April is 2.26 inches, and the average rainfall for the month of April is .15 inches, Harrison said.
At one point Saturday morning, Nevada Highway Patrol’s Southern Command was working at least 25 crashes due to the rain.
Saturday saw a high of 66 degrees and a low of 49, Morgan said.
Temperatures will rise come Sunday when a high of 77 is expected. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are still likely, the weather service said.
By Monday, the valley will see a high of 80 degrees and a low of 60, with a 20 percent chance of rain, Morgan said.
Tuesday the valley will “finally dry out,” Morgan said. The high temperature is expected to be 88 degrees with mostly clear skies.
The valley will be back up to 90 degrees by Wednesday, Morgan said. “We’ll have our first good shot of wind, pretty breezy,” he said.
The valley saw its first 90 degree day on April 20 this year, just two days after the average April 18 date. The earliest the valley has seen 90 degrees was on March 13, 2007, the weather service said.
May is the second-driest month of the year in the valley and, with a chance for rain later next week, “it takes very little rain to break a May record,” Morgan said. “May 6 and May 7 are the wettest days in the first 12 days of the month.”
June is the driest month of the year, Morgan said.
Contact Raven Jackson at rjackson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @ravenmjackson on Twitter. Contact Jessica Terrones at jterrones@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Follow @JessATerrones on Twitter.
