LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Just about a week into the month and Las Vegas has already seen the wettest May on record for the valley.
Rain reached 1.44 inches of rain at Harry Reid International Airport. This is highly unusual for May, our second driest month on average in Las Vegas. The average rainfall in May is 0.07 inches.
Now that we’re heading into the year’s hottest months, the thunderstorms that rolled through the Las Vegas Valley may have reminded you of monsoon season. While the storms packed a punch with heavy downpours and hail, this was not a part of the monsoon. These thunderstorms were caused by an unseasonably cold low-pressure system that tracked across Southern Nevada.
The monsoon is defined as a “seasonal shift in the wind.” For most of the year, the wind comes out of the west and off the Pacific Ocean for Southern Nevada. As we head into the summer months, the wind shifts more south-southeast, drawing in subtropical moisture that is the fuel for rain and thunderstorms to develop.
We’re not there just yet.
The start of monsoon season is June 15th and runs through September 30th. In Southern Nevada, our two most active months are July and August. We usually start seeing that wind shift around the 4th of July, bringing in more humidity and that chance for summer thunderstorms.
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