More storms may be on the way

Monday, July 25, 2005 | 11:06 a.m.

After suburban Las Vegas Valley streets turned into torrents Sunday morning, mud and debris remained as Southern Nevada faced another possible round of thunderstorms today, the National Weather Service said.

Although residents who saw their homes flooded last year might have been on edge as the storms approached, no major damage or flooding has been reported. The nuisance of flooded streets was outweighed by the moisture breaking the worst heat wave in recent memory in Southern Nevada.

Forecasters said there was a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms this afternoon.

Chances for thunderstorms today depended on clouds over the Las Vegas Valley this morning, said Weather Service meteorologist Andy Gorelow. With cloud cover, the valley is less likely to experience summer thunderstorms like those that pounded the area Sunday morning.

Without clouds and allowing the sun to heat up the air, today's chances for afternoon and evening thunderstorms are better, Gorelow said.

The National Weather Service canceled a flash flood warning for Southern Nevada and northwest Arizona at 7:45 a.m. Sunday following severe thunderstorms that swept through the valley in early morning hours.

Metro Police are investigating a fatal accident that may have been weather related early Sunday morning at Flamingo Road and Las Vegas Boulevard South. There were no other reports of deaths or injuries from Sunday's storms.

Thunderstorms began pounding Henderson before midnight Sunday and then made their way across the valley through the night.

Between 10:58 p.m. and 11:38 p.m. Saturday a rain gauge at the Henderson Airport captured 0.97 of an inch, Gorelow said. By midnight the same gauge had 1.22 inches and the total rainfall in Henderson was 1.83 inches.

McCarran International Airport, the station collecting official Las Vegas records, caught 0.52 of an inch through Sunday, bringing the 2005 rainfall total to 5.64 inches, Gorelow said.

"That's up 3 inches from the average rainfall for the year so far," Gorelow said.

Mount Charleston Fire Station reported 1.87 inches for Sunday, rain that helped federal firefighters bring four Spring Mountain fires under control and helped put out a nearly 900-acre fire in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Red Rock received 0.70 of an inch Sunday.

Sunday's high temperature of 91 degrees occurred shortly after midnight before the rain storms began, Gorelow said. Sunday afternoon the thermometer managed to reach 86 degrees after a low of 73 degrees after the storms dumped rain on the valley.

The lower afternoon temperature helped a bank of fog and low clouds to shroud the Spring Mountains Sunday, Gorelow said.

"There may have been some smoke from the forest fires in there," he said.

Although many streets and intersections were flooded, trapping several cars in the torrents, Clark County Public Works officials said there were no reports of major property damage.

The Weather Service station in Las Vegas learned that 200 people living in Twenty Nine Palms, Calif., had to be evacuated Sunday afternoon due to flash flooding, Gorelow said.

Over the week the valley's air will gradually dry out and temperatures on Wednesday could reach 105 to 109 degrees before the next threat of stormy summer weather arrives next weekend, Gorelow said.

Tropical moisture from Gert, expected to meander across Mexico as hurricane Emily's remnants did last week, could bring a chance of more thunderstorms by the end of the week.