LAS VEGAS (AP) - A record dry spell in Las Vegas is over.
The National Weather Service says rain showers that swept through southern Nevada on Thursday established the local record at 240 dry days and broke the previous record of 150 days set in 1959.
Officially, 0.04 inches (0.1 centimeters) of rain was recorded at the Weather Service measuring station at McCarran International Airport, where the last measurable precipitation fell April 20.
Meteorologist Clay Morgan said trace amounts of rain were recorded several times during the summer, and other parts of the area occasionally received measurable rain. But nothing was measured at the airport.
After Thursday’s showers, Morgan said rainfall for 2020 measured 2.35 inches (5.97 centimeters) - well below the normal annual average of 4.19 inches (10.64 centimeters).
The driest year ever was 1953, with just 0.56 inches of precipitation measured at the airport.
Thursday’s rain came on the same date that a rare snowstorm in 2008 left 3.6 inches (9.14 centimeters) of snow at the airport and nearby “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada” sign, with more accumulation in suburban foothills.
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