Thunder serves as valley’s alarm clock

Mary Manning and Afsha Bawany

Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2003 | 11:29 a.m.

Lightning and thunder woke up Las Vegas residents before dawn today, and the National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch until 9 p.m. as the Southwest monsoon intensified.

Bands of clouds pushed north through Southern Nevada this morning, and rain started pouring about 4 a.m. in parts of the Las Vegas Valley.

The rains started and stopped throughout the early morning, providing scattered showers in parts of the valley, according to the National Weather Service.

Tim Sutko, a senior hydrologist at the Regional Flood Control District said no flash flooding had been reported early this morning.

"Right now watch it and see what happens," Sutko said.

Today's rainfall as of 9:30 a.m. was 0.11 of an inch, bringing the year-to-date total to 4.74 inches, 1.46 of an inch above normal, the Weather Service said.

The Weather Service predicted thunderstorms would move to the north at 15 to 20 miles per hour and could produce a quarter inch of rain.

This afternoon, as the sun heats the valley, thunderstorms could grow and move more slowly than this morning's showers, meterologist Jerome Jacques said. The slower the storm clouds move, the heavier the potential for rainfall, he said.

The Weather Service could issue a flash flood warning today if heavy rains fall and streets turn into rivers. A flood watch means that flash floods are possible.

A week ago hundreds of residents in the northwest Las Vegas Valley were trapped in their homes, cars and businesses as powerful thunderstorms dumped 3 inches of rain in less than an hour.

This morning's storm included a 5- to 10-minute downpour around Gowan Road, where several residents had spent the weekend ripping out ruined carpet and removing mud from their homes.

While the ground was well saturated, there was no significant flooding or traffic snarls reported.

Other areas of the valley got wet while others remained dry -- similar to what happened last week.

Thunderstorms could continue through Wednesday and there is a chance of more storms on Thursday.

The latest round of summer storms received a boost from tropical storm Ignacio as the former hurricane hunkered over the Baja peninsula and shed some moisture that moved northward, Jacques said. Ignacio's intensity is dying as it moves over land, he said.

Temperatures today, Wednesday and Thursday should reach highs in the 90s because of the clouds and storms. The low was 83 degrees overnight.