Thursday, Nov. 27, 2008 | 6:37 p.m.
Sun weather coverage
Anyone in Las Vegas on Thanksgiving Day witnessed something few have ever seen on the holiday. It rained.
The National Weather Service said 0.14 inches of rain fell at McCarran International Airport on Thursday. Since records have been kept, beginning in 1937, the airport never has recorded measurable rainfall on Thanksgiving Day -- that is, until this year.
The rain amount also broke a record for Nov. 27, set in 1981, when one-hundredth of an inch of rain fell in the city. It was the second day of record-breaking rainfall -- the 0.32 of an inch that fell Wednesday set a record for Nov. 26.
While other areas of the city have picked up rain on the holiday in the past, the airport has the city's official rain gauge. The weather service defines measurable rainfall as anything at or above one-hundredth of an inch of rain.
The weather service said six other Thanksgiving holidays officially have seen a trace of precipitation: Nov. 24, 1983; Nov. 23, 1978; Nov. 27, 1975; Nov. 26, 1970; Nov. 25, 1965 and Nov. 22, 1951.
Most of Thursday's rain at McCarran was reported between noon and 4 p.m., with the highest hourly total during the 2 p.m. hour, when 0.06 of an inch fell. The high temperature on Thanksgiving Day topped out at 61 degrees, at 1:12 p.m.
Las Vegas officially has recorded 1.49 inches of rain this year, with 0.46 inches of that falling Wednesday and Thursday.
The rain will be short-lived. Skies will begin to clear Friday with dry and warmer weather in the forecast for the next several days.
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