Las Vegas ties 75-year-old record for driest monsoon season
The monsoon season came and went without any measurable rain in the Las Vegas Valley, tying a record set more than 75 years ago.
With only a trace amount of rain between June and September, 2020 tied with the 1944 record for the driest monsoon season since the National Weather Service began recording in 1937.
Goodbye Monsoon 2020, we barely knew you... ✌️ #VegasWeather #nvwx pic.twitter.com/48i23dkahZ
— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) September 30, 2020
The record was announced Wednesday by the National Weather Service next to a handful of other records the valley may break this week, and an autumn heat wave keeping temperatures in the upper 90s.
The temperatures this summer are slowly creeping up on the record number for 100-degree days, though meteorologist Caleb Steele said the weather service doesn’t expect the record to be broken this year.
4 short of record for 100-plus days
As of Wednesday, the weather service recorded 96 100-degree days and the record is 100 days.
“We’ll come close to that 100 record, but it’s fairly unlikely we’ll break it,” he said. “We might be able to squeeze one more day out.”
The weather service predicted temperatures this week around 98 degrees through Saturday, Steele said.
The average temperature for this week is about 87 degrees.
Low temperatures through Tuesday will dip into the high 60s.
Cooler, but no rain in forecast
Friday’s predicted forecast of 99 will be just 1 degree short of the record, and Saturday’s and Sunday’s forecast will both be 2 degrees short.
Steele said relief will come after this heat wave, when temperatures are expected to cool down to the low 90s next week, but there’s still no rain on the horizon.
Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.
