Despite lightning, little rain falls in valley

Monday, Aug. 2, 2004 | 9:16 a.m.

While lightning and thunder could be seen and heard across the Las Vegas Valley on Sunday, only fractions of an inch of rain fell on western subdivisions and the Spring Mountains west of town, the National Weather Service said.

Although Southern Nevada is in the middle of the Southwest monsoon season, when a moist flow of air pushes north from Mexico, little rain has fallen in the valley this year.

According to the weather service, McCarran International Airport received 0.09 of an inch of rain Sunday.

This brings the year's rain total to 2.76 inches, about four-hundredths of an inch below Southern Nevada's annual average of 2.8 inches, said Charlie Schlott, a meteorologist with the weather service.

"It's a little below normal," Schlott said.

Sunday's weather system brought a cooler than average high temperature as well -- 101 degrees. The average high for Aug. 1 is 104 degrees.

The moist flow of air will move eastward this afternoon and southwest winds will dry Southern Nevada's air for the next few days.

Thunderstorms may roll through Nevada just north of Las Vegas this afternoon, Schlott said.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., is tracking the North American monsoon across the southwest to measure its impact on farming, ranching and wildland fires raging across the West.

A late start to the monsoon can add stress to the water supply in the Southwest and reduces yields for Mexican farmers, Gochis said.

The monsoon study will continue for eight years as scientists try to develop a weather pattern for the summer weather.