‘Exceptionally rare’ May storm breaks rain records in Las Vegas — PHOTOS
For the third day in a row, a record-breaking May storm made its presence felt in the Las Vegas Valley.
Portions of the valley were under a flash flood warning for several hours Tuesday as thunderstorms rolled across Southern Nevada. The southern valley, including Henderson and Boulder City, were under a flash flood warning or advisory for much of Tuesday afternoon.
Chris Outler, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service’s Las Vegas office, said the storm, which first originated from northeastern Nevada on Saturday, traveled from the Spring Mountains into Summerlin, then to Spring Valley and over Harry Reid International Airport.
Arriving flights at Harry Reid International were delayed an average of 53 minutes early Tuesday afternoon because of weather conditions, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
After the airport, the core of the thunderstorm — which has the heaviest precipitation — hit Henderson “pretty hard” Tuesday afternoon, Outler said.
Heavy rain and hail
The heaviest rainfall, Outler said, was in southeast Henderson near the College of Southern Nevada’s Henderson campus.
A Clark County Flood Control District gauge recorded 0.87 inches of rain in that area — the highest of any place in the valley on Tuesday.
While most gauges around the Las Vegas Valley recorded between 0.04 and 0.16 inches of rain for the day, gauges near Sunset Park and in Green Valley recorded 0.24 to 0.47 inches, and two gauges in the southwest valley south of the 215 Beltway saw 0.35 and 0.47 inches of rain.
Some areas of the southwest valley and Henderson also saw small hail, which Outler said was brought on by a cold weather system moving through the atmosphere at high altitudes.
“We’re getting more efficient hail production than we normally see when it’s hot out,” he said.
Wettest May on record
Outler said this amount of precipitation is “remarkable” for this time of year.
“It’s very common to have the month of May have no rain at all,” Outler said. “So to get as much rain as we’ve had, especially the past few days, and even consecutive days of rain, is just really, really exceptionally rare.”
With only six days into the month, preliminary data indicates that May 2025 has already become the wettest May on record for the Las Vegas Valley after Harry Reid International Airport recorded 1.44 inches of rain for the month, Outler said. The monthly record was previously set in May 1969 when 0.96 inches of rain were recorded.
Tuesday broke the daily rainfall record for May 6 with 0.61 inches of rain recorded at Harry Reid, breaking the previous record set in 1969 with 0.59 inches.
Sunday and Monday also broke daily rainfall records.
Monday’s rainfall in the Las Vegas Valley broke a 56-year-old record for May 5 with 0.57 inches of rain recorded in the Las Vegas Valley. The previous high of 0.04 inches was recorded in 1969.
Sunday also broke a rainfall record for May 4 around 5:23 a.m. with 0.05 inches of rain. The previous daily rainfall record was set on May 4, 1982, with 0.03 inches of rain.
Outler said that the rainfall is no predictor of how monsoon season will look, as the season doesn’t start until the first or second week of July.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority also asked residents and business to turn off their landscape irrigation systems until Monday, May 12 “to take full advantage of nature’s generosity,” the agency said in a news release.
Overall, Outler said it’s been “quite a treat” to have this much rain this time of year.
“We’ve just been in a really favorable spot (for the storm) to squeeze out everything it had.”
In Henderson, Strahl said he lives with his wife, Sue, on Ash Street, which is a couple of blocks from where the search was underway.
“In less than an hour, the water on the street in our neighborhood was up past my ankles,” Strahl said. “It was coming down thick. You couldn’t even see across the street.”
A Clark County Flood Control District gauge near the rescue operation recorded 0.16 inches of rain for the day, as of 4:20 p.m.
Man missing in wash
Also on Tuesday, police and fire crews were searching for a man last seen in the water of a Henderson wash.
Officers as well as crews from the Henderson Fire Department responded to the wash area at Aloha Drive and Pueblo Avenue just after 2:20 p.m. Tuesday for a swift-water rescue for one person.
First responders briefly saw a man in the water, police said.
Contact Taylor Lane at tlane@reviewjournal.com. Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X. Digital Content Producer Tony Garcia contributed to this report.
