'Shocked to see': Rain finally breaks Las Vegas' dry spell
The dry streak is over in Las Vegas!
After 214 consecutive days with no measurable amount of rain, a steady stream of showers covered the city and surrounding areas on Thursday.
The National Weather Service on Thursday officially measured 0.57 inches, slightly more than a half-inch, of rain at Harry Reid International Airport, breaking one of the longest dry spells in Vegas' history. The last time precipitation fell over Vegas was on July 13, 2024, Brian Planz, a Vegas-based weather service meteorologist said Friday.
"Seven months is definitely a long time," Planz said as an atmospheric river on a southern trajectory blanketed the city with showers Thursday. "We started tracking the possibility of rain about 7 to 10 days ago and it finally happened."
More significant rain came during Thursday's rush hour traffic, Planz said. It was the second time in 88 years that Las Vegas went more than 200 days without rain, according to Planz.
"Those folks are probably jumping for joy," said Tom Kines, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather on Vegas' rain. He said the city's normal precipitatin for February is typically .8 inches. "I'm sure they will take whatever they can get."
'It felt like more'
The rain and winds surprised Alicia Hill, 37, a longtime rideshare driver and courier who spent Thursday delivering a higher-than-usual number of food orders for customers who opted to stay home.
"Everybody I talked to was shocked to see it as I guess we stopped checking the forecasts a while ago," Hill said Friday. "It felt like more. It didn’t seem like it was just a half inch, especially if you were out in it. We needed it for sure."
The last time Las Vegas saw a half-inch or more of rain? Around 530 days ago during Labor Day Weekend of 2023, the weather service said. Friday's forecast calls for a slight chance for showers again as temps are expected to be in the 60s.