Unstable air could bring storms tonight to Las Vegas

By Dave Toplikar (contact)

Published Tuesday, July 21, 2009 | 5:40 a.m.

Updated Tuesday, July 21, 2009 | 5:33 p.m.

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Mother nature put on a very impressive show over the Las Vegas Strip last night.

Lower-than-normal temperatures were on tap today for the Las Vegas Valley as an unstable air mass remained over southern Nevada.

No thunderstorms developed today in the valley. But there's still a 20 percent chance for isolated to scattered thunderstorms before 11 tonight, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service said thunderstorms that develop in Lincoln County to the north could push down through southern Nevada tonight, bringing high winds and heavy rains.

Temperatures were expected to reach up to 107 degrees today. But as of 5 p.m., the hottest it got in Las Vegas was 100 degrees, thanks to the prolonged cloud cover, the weather service said. The normal high for today is 105 degrees and the record was 113, set in 1942.

Temperatures will be at normal to slightly above normal levels through the rest of the week, forecasters said.

Monday night's storms brought .24 of an inch of rain to the city's official reporting station at McCarran International Airport. That brings the amount of rain for the month up to .27 of an inch and for the year up to 1.24 inches. Las Vegas is still 1.32 inches below the normal of 2.56 inches by this time of the year.

The weather service said the overnight rain brought flooding to some areas of Las Vegas.

About 11 p.m., several inches of water was reported in the lower level of the Imperial Palace Hote and Casino parking garage, which got about .4 of an inch of rain, the weather service said.

Also, about 10:17 p.m., heavy rain was creating ponding of water on roadways at the pull-in for buses at the bus terminal in downtown Las Vegas. And several inches of water was reported by broadcast media near the intersection of Charleston and Decatur boulevards, the weather service said.

The heaviest rains in the Spring Mountains was 2.25 inches in Kyle Canyon, 2 inches in Rainbow Canyon and 1.75 inches in Mount Charleston.

Recorded rainfall amounts in the Las Vegas Valley included .87 of an inch at Fossil Ridge, .67 at Carey and Lake Mead, .61 at North Las Vegas Airport, .54 at Gran Teton and North Jones, .51 at Meadows Detention Basin, .41 at Flamingo Wash at Decatur, .35 at Aliante, .35 at the Flamingo Wash at Eastern, .16 in downtown Las Vegas, .12 at the Pittman Channel at Stephanie, ,03 at the Henderson Executive Airport, .02 in Summerlin and a trace at Nellis Air Force Base. (See more rainfall amounts.)