Valley can expect dry day before next storm rolls in

Wednesday, March 7, 2001 | 11:03 a.m.

The rain that lingered through this morning is leaving for at least a day, National Weather Service forecasters said today.

The heaviest rainfall fell south of Nevada in Southern California and Arizona.

After dropping 0.05 of an inch of rain by midnight at McCarran International Airport to 1.1 inches in Laughlin -- 90 miles southeast of Las Vegas -- and Needles, Calif., through 6 a.m. this morning, the Pacific storm that drenched Southern California with 2 to 3 inches moved east into Arizona today.

The Southwest will dry out on Thursday with temperatures near 70 in the Las Vegas Valley, meteorologist Paul Skrbac said.

The next in a series of storms, currently brewing across the Pacific Ocean, will begin to move into Southern Nevada Friday, Skrbac said.

The winter storm pattern has remained consistent for more than a month, Skrbac said. He said the Las Vegas Valley has already received as much rain this year as it normally receives in eight months during any given year. An average rainfall for a year is 4.13 inches in Southern Nevada.

The storms this year are striking the Pacific Northwest and Northern California, then plunging down the coast and moving into the Southwest's deserts.