Max makes early appearance from his Red Rock burrow

Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2005 | 9:55 a.m.

The National Weather Service released rain totals for Southern Nevada locations from October through January. The locations plus rainfall in inches include:

Pioche 9.77; Caliente 9.32; Searchlight 10.84; Red Rock 14.79; Las Vegas 6.47; Pahrump 6.31; Laughlin 5.27; North Las Vegas 7.13; Mesquite 7.40; Bunkerville7.18; Overton 4.12.

Fog is forming, tortoises are stirring from desert burrows and another round of rain is expected this week across the Las Vegas Valley.

Patches of fog may disappear as the daylight warms the valley, but a Las Vegas icon made his spring appearance on Monday.

Southern Nevada's most famous desert tortoise, Mojave Max, picked Valentine's Day to emerge from his burrow, the earliest date the 30-year to 50-year-old reptile has roused himself in the six years he's been watched, a Clark County official said.

As warm, moist air settled Monday over the Red Rock Visitor's Center west of Las Vegas, Max strolled outside at 11:55 a.m. when it was 59 degrees outside, said Christina Gibson, a management analyst with the county's desert conservation program.

"The warm January and plentiful rainfall have definitely contributed to Mojave Max's early emergence this year," Gibson said. Red Rock Canyon has received 4.18 inches of rain in the first six weeks of 2005.

Warmer temperatures, wetter conditions and early flowers blooming are part of the mix that drew Mojave Max outside his burrow, Gibson said. Nature can be unpredictable as the weather and the tortoise is an integral part of the desert environment, she said.

Maybe Max could smell the wildflowers, Gibson said. Experts predict a "phenomenal" desert bloom of large and small plants, as well as active desert critters as spring weather arrives, she said.

There has been so much rain in Las Vegas through the winter months -- 5.01 inches since Dec. 1 -- that desert plants large and small are expected to flower this year.

The 15-pound tortoise stuck his nose out of the burrow on Jan. 26, but headed back underground. A nose in the air doesn't count as an emergence, Gibson said. He emerged on Feb. 19 last year and later on March 22, 2002.

"He surprised everybody," said Betty Burge, chairwoman of the Tortoise Group, a preservation group in Las Vegas. It's a little early for Max to stir, but no one knows what tortoises will do, she said.

"I'm not going to predict anything," Burge said, explaining that Max may mosey back into his burrow if it turns cooler.

For National Weather Service forecasters, the week ahead holds promise of more rain for the Las Vegas Valley.

Moisture from last week's rain became trapped in the valley, causing overnight fog Sunday and Monday, weather service meteorologists said.

The juicy atmosphere helped form clouds over the mountains on Monday, a prelude to a wetter weather pattern that taps tropical moisture southwest of Las Vegas and pulls it into the valley.

"It looks like we're going to have more rain," forecaster Charlie Schlott said late Monday.

Schlott said that Tuesday should be partly cloudy until later in the day when rain could start falling.

The rainfall is expected to increase as the week continues.

The stream of moisture fueling local rainfall pushes straight eastward across the Pacific Ocean, before it streams northeast and into the Southwest, Schlott said.

Periods of rain are expected Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday with a small break on Sunday.

Then a week from now the rainy cycle returns for more showers, although April is more than a month away.

archive