Thunderstorms briefly close water park, more storms could be coming

By John Taylor (contact)

Published Friday, July 26, 2013 | 11:48 a.m.

Updated Friday, July 26, 2013 | 5:33 p.m.

A thunderstorm passed over southwest Las Vegas Friday afternoon causing swimmers at Wet ‘n’ Wild to clear out of the pool for safety.

The thunderstorm dropped about 0.2 inch rain over the area near Fort Apache and Warm Springs roads, but did not cause any flooding, National Weather Service officials said. The lightning and thunder forced Wet ‘n’ Wild to close at 3 p.m. for about 20 minutes, but it has since resumed activities, water park spokeswoman Nancy Katz said.

Rain and thunderstorms continue in the forecast for the Las Vegas Valley throughout the evening, but a flash flood warning issued earlier today for the Spring Mountains has expired, weather officials said.

The National Weather Service issued the warning about 11:15 a.m. after Doppler radar indicated heavy thunderstorms 6 miles southeast of Willow Creek Campground, or 7 miles northwest of Mount Charleston, but the warning was allowed to expire at 2:15 p.m., said Chris Stachelski, a forecaster with the Las Vegas National Weather Service office.

Despite the flash flood warning being lifted, Stachelski said the chance of rain and thunderstorms would continue through Saturday in the Las Vegas area. The forecast said the chance of storms was 40 percent tonight and 30 percent Saturday.

There were no official storm warnings in effect at midafternoon, Stachelski said, but "anytime you have thunderstorms, you always have the threat of high winds, hail and flash floods."