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Las Vegas Valley breaks 20-year rain record — VIDEOS

Updated April 29, 2019 - 10:38 pm

The Las Vegas Valley broke a 20-year rain record Monday.

A severe afternoon thunderstorm dumped a daily record 0.25 inches of rain at McCarran International Airport, according to the National Weather Service, breaking the previous mark of 0.21 inches in 1999.

The agency issued a flood advisory following the storm, warning of lightning strikes, gusty winds and small hail through 5 p.m.

Floyd Lamb Park recorded the highest valley rainfall Monday at 1.3 inches. Other areas of the west valley saw about a half-inch. Portions of the southwest valley saw hail that measured a half-inch to three-quarters of an inch.


The Monday storms also brought the valley’s total rainfall so far this year to about 3.8 inches, the weather service said. The average rainfall total for this time of year is about 1.9 inches.

As a result of the weather, McCarran International Airport experienced afternoon and evening delays, at one point averaging nearly two hours for arrivals and about an hour for departures, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The rain Monday also caused afternoon temperatures to drop more than 10 degrees, according to the weather service.

That means in a rare occurrence, the highest temperature of the day was actually recorded just after midnight, when it was 80 degrees, meteorologist John Adair said. Temperatures during the day hit 77 degrees at about noon before the clouds opened up and the temperature quickly sank to 65.

Following Monday’s showers, the valley should be dry through at least Friday with mostly sunny skies, the weather service said. Temperatures should rise into the upper 80s by the weekend.

Tuesday’s high is expected to reach 79 degrees, followed by daily highs of 75 on Wednesday, 83 on Thursday and 89 on Friday.

Overnight lows through Friday will be in the upper 50s to lower 60s.

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