Storms drop as much as an inch of rain in Las Vegas Valley

Two storms moved into the Las Vegas Valley on Wednesday, bringing up to an inch of rainfall in some areas, the National Weather Service said Wednesday.

Henderson experienced a downpour of just over an inch, the weather service said. The rest of the valley ranged between a quarter and three-quarters of an inch.

Rains should settle down by overnight, meteorologist John Adair said. Only brief showers are expected, and chance of rain has reduced to 15 percent.

But even with the rain, temperatures remained warm, the weather service said. Wednesday reached 100 degrees.

Warnings across the valley

A flash flood warning took effect across the Las Vegas Valley and lasted from 3 to 6 p.m., the weather service said. More than 1,300 customers temporarily lost power Wednesday afternoon, NV Energy said. The most significant outage was reported in Henderson, near the 215 Beltway and Gibson Road.

The weather service issued severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for areas south and west of the valley, particularly Sandy Valley, north of Primm. Those warnings expired at 2:45 and 3:45 p.m., respectively.

Hail as large as a quarter-inch had threatened Sandy Valley, the weather service said. As of 7 p.m., the weather service received secondhand reports of hail but made no direct observations.

Between 1 and 3 inches of rain fell in the area.

Delayed flights at McCarran

McCarran International Airport issued a ground stop for incoming flights at about 1 p.m., but it has since been lifted, McCarran spokeswoman Christine Crews said.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration’s website, most afternoon flights to Newark International Airport in New Jersey were delayed by more than an hour, and flights to LaGuardia Airport in New York were delayed by about 30 minutes.

At the rain’s peak, the airport saw departure delays of about two hours, according to the FAA site. By 7:30 p.m., delays decreased to about 15 to 30 minutes.

Looking ahead

Thunderstorms are also possible Thursday, the weather service said. The chance of rain is estimated at 10 percent. The forecast high is just shy of triple digits, hovering at 99 degrees.

The weather service predicts temperatures will start heating up Friday, with a high of 105 degrees. Saturday should reach 107 degrees and Sunday, 108.

The Las Vegas Valley can expect a respite from rain over the weekend, the weather service said.

Contact Rachel Hershkovitz at rhershkovitz@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @rzhershkovitz on Twitter. Review-Journal reporters Isabelle Delgado and Mike Shoro contributed to this story.